UBRABY 
OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


MEN,  WOMEN,  AND  GODS, 

AND 

OTHER  LECTURES. 


BY 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  BY 

ROBERT  G.  INGERSOLIv. 


FOURTH  EDITION,  REVISED  AND  ENLARGED. 


New  York: 
THE  TRUTH  SEEKER  COMPANY, 
33  Clinton  Place. 


Copyright, 
By  HELEN  H.  GARDENER, 
1885. 


THIS  LITTLE  VOLUME 

IS 

RESPECTFULL  Y  DEDICA  TED, 

WITH  THE  LOVE  OF  THE  AUTHOR, 
TO 


MRS.  EVA  INGERSOLL, 


THE  BRAVE,  HAPPY  WIPE  OP  AMERICANS  GREATEST  ORATOn 


AND  woman's  truest  FRIEND. 


IN  HER  BEAUTIFUL  HOME-LIFE  SUPERSTITION  AND  FEAR  HAVE  NEVER 


ENTERED  ;  HUMAN  EQUALITY  AND  FREEDOM  HAVE 
THEIR  HIGHEST  ILLUSTRATION  ; 


TIME  HAS  DEEPENED  YOUTHFUL  LOVE  INTO  A  DIVINER  WORSHIP 


THAN  ANGELS  OFFER  OR  THAN  GODS  INSPIRE. 


AND 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION,  by  Robert  G.  Ingeksoll   ix 

I.  MEN,  WOMEN,  AND  GODS   1 

Introductory   1 

Accident  Insurance   4 

Chiefly  Women                       ,   7 

Why  Women  Support  It   12 

What  It  Teaches   14 

From  Moses  to  Paul   27 

The  Fruit  of  the  Tree  of  Knowledge   33 

Knowledge  Not  a  Crime   38 

As  Much  Inspired  as  Any  of  It   44 

II.  VICARIOUS  ATONEMENT   47 

Fear   49 

Beginning  to  Think   52 

Creeds   53 

Self  CONTROL  What  We  Need   55 


Vicarious  Atonement  not  a  Christian  Invention.  . . . 
Twin  Monsters  Inherited  from  Intellectual  Pigmie. 
Geographical  Religion 


viii  Contents. 

Revelation   61 

Evidence  of  Faith   62 

Did  He  Talk  ?   65 

What  You  May  Think   66 

Intellectual  Gag-Law   69 

The  Vicarious  Theoky  the  Cause  of  Crime   71 

Revision   73 

The  Church's  Money-Box   75 

Shall  Progress  Stop?   76 

III.  HISTORICxlL  PACTS  AND  THEOLOGICAL  FICTIONS.  79 

Church  Fictions   79 

Historical  Facts   80 

Civilization   80 

Comparative  Status   89 

Women  as  Persons   92 

Education  101 

As  Wives   108 

Not  Woman's  Friend   115 

Morals   118 

APPENDIX   .   132 

ADDRESS  TO  THE  CLERGY  AND  OTHERS.....   168 

LETTER  TO   THE  CLEVELAND  CONGRESS  OF  FREE- 
THINKERS, OCT.,  1885   172 


INTRODUCTION. 


Nothing  gives  me  more  pleasure,  nothing  gives  greater 
promise  for  the  future,  than  the  fact  that  woman  is  achieving 
intellectual  and  physical  liberty.  It  is  refreshing  to  know 
that  here,  in  our  country,  there  are  thousands  of  women  who 
think  and  express  their  own  thoughts — who  are  thoroughly 
free  and  thoroughly  conscientious — who  have  neither  been 
narrowed  nor  corrupted  by  a  heartless  creed — who  do  not 
worship  a  being  in  heaven  whom  they  would  shudderingly 
loathe  on  earth.  AVomen  who  do  not  stand  before  the  altar 
of  a  cruel  faith  with  downcast  eyes  of  timid  acquiescence,  and 
pay  to  impudent  authority  the  tribute  of  a  thoughtless  yes. 
They  are  no  longer  satisfied  with  being  told.  They  examine 
for  themselves.  They  have  ceased  to  be  the  prisoners  of 
society — the  satisfied  serfs  of  husbands  or  the  echoes  of  priests. 
They  demand  the  rights  that  naturally  belong  to  intelligent 
human  beings.  If  wi'^'^^^'  "^hey  wish  to  be  the  equals  of 
husbands — if  mothers,  they  wish  to  rear  their  children  in  the 
atmosphere  of  love,  liberty  and  philosophy.  They  believe 
that  woman  can  discharge  all  her  duties  without  the  aid  of 
superstition,  and  preserve  all  that  is  true,  pure  and  tender 
without  sacrificing  in  the  temple  of  absurdity  the  convictions 
of  the  soul. 

Woman  is  not  the  intellectual  inferior  of  man.  She  has 
lacked— not  mind — but  opportunity.    In  the  long  night  of 


X 


Introduction. 


barbarism  physical  strength,  and  the  cruelty  to  use  it,  were 
the  badges  of  superiority.  Muscle  was  more  than  mind.  In 
the  ignorant  age  of  Faith  the  loving  nature  of  woman  was 
abused,  her  conscience  was  rendered  morbid  and  diseased.  It 
might  almost  be  said  that  she  was  betrayed  by  her  own 
virtues.  At  best,  she  secured,  not  opportunity,  but  flattery, 
the  preface  to  degradation.  She  Htk  deprived  of  liberty  and 
without  that  nothing  is  worth  the  having.  She  was  taught 
to  obey  without  question,  and  to  believe  without  thought. 
There  were  universities  for  men  before  the  alphabet  had  been 
taught  to  woman.  At  the  intellectual  feast  there  were  no 
places  for  wives  and  mothers.  Even  now  they  sit  at  the 
second  table  and  eat  the  crusts  and  crumbs.  The  schools  for 
women,  at  the  present  time,  are  just  far  enough  behind  those 
for  men  to  fall  heirs  to  the  discarded.  On  the  same  principle, 
when  a  doctrine  becomes  too  absurd  for  the  pulpit,  it  is  given 
to  the  Sunday  School.  The  ages  of  muscle  and  miracle— of 
fists  and  faith — are  passing  away.  Minerva  occupies  at  last  a 
higher  niche  than  Hercules.  Now,  a  word  is  stronger  than 
a  blow. 

At  last  we  see  women  who  depend  upon  themselves — who 
stand  self  poised  the  shocks  of  this  sad  world  without  leaning 
for  support  against  a  church — who  do  not  go  to  the  literature 
of  barbarism  for  consolation,  nor  use  the  falsehoods  and  mis- 
takes of  the  past  for  the  foundation  of  their  hope — women 
brave  enough  and  tender  enough  to  meet  and  bear  the  facts 
and  fortunes  of  this  world. 

The  men  who  declare  that  woman  is  the  intellectual  inferior 
of  man,  do  not,  and  cannot,  by  offering  themselves  in  evidence, 
substantiate  their  declaration. 


Litroduction, 


xi 


Yet^  I  must  admit  that  there  are  thousands  of  wives  who 
still  have  faith  in  the  saving  power  of  superstition — who 
still  insist  on  attending  church  while  husbands  prefer  the 
shores,  the  woods,  or  the  fields.  In  this  way  families  are 
divided.  Parents  grow  apart,  and  unconsciously  the  pearl 
of  greatest  price  is  thrown  away.  The  wife  ceases  to  be  the 
intellectual  companion  of  t^lP^husband.  She  reads  the  ^'^Chris- 
tian Eegister/^  sermons  in  the  Monday  papers,  and  a  little 
gossip  about  folks  and  fashions,  while  he  studies  the  works  of 
Darwin,  Haeckel  and  Humboldt.  Their  sympathies  become 
estranged.  They  are  no  longer  mental  friends.  The  husband 
smiles  at  the  follies  of  the  wife  and  she  weeps  for  the  supposed 
sins  of  the  husband.  Such  wives  should  read  this  book. 
They  should  not  be  satisfied  to  remain  forever  in  the  cradle 
of  thought,  amused  with  the  toys  of  superstition. 

The  parasite  of  woman  is  the  priest. 

It  must  also  be  admitted  that  there  are  thousands  of  men 
who  believe  that  superstition  is  good  for  women  and  children  — 
who  regard  falsehood  as  the  fortress  of  virtue,  and  feel  in- 
debted to  ignorance  for  the  purity  of  daughters  and  the  fidelity 
of  wives.  These  men  think  of  priests  as  detectives  in  disguise, 
and  regard  God  as  a  policeman  who  prevents  elopements. 
Tlieir  opinions  about  religion  are  as  correct  as  their  estimate 
of  woman. 

The  church  furnishes  but  little  food  for  the  mind.  People 
of  intelligence  are  growing  tired  of  the  platitudes  of  the  pulpit 
— the  iterations  of  the  itinerants.  The  average  sermon  is  '^^as 
tedious  as  a  twice-told  tale  vexing  the  ears  of  a  drowsy  man.^^ 

One  Sunday  a  gentleman  who  is  a  great  inventor  called  at 
my  house.    Only  a  few  words  had  passed  between  us,  when 


xii 


Introduction. 


he  arose,  saying  that  he  must  go  as  it  was  time  for  church. 
Wondering  that  a  man  of  his  mental  wealth  could  enjoy  the 
intellectual  poverty  of  the  pulpit,  I  asked  for  an  explanation, 
and  he  gave  me  the  following :  You  know  that  I  am  an 
inventor.  Well,  the  moment  my  mind  becomes  absorbed 
in  some  difficult  problem,  I  am  afraid  that  something  may 
happen  to  distract  my  attention.  Now,  I  know  that  I  can 
sit  in  church  for  an  hour  without  the  slightest  danger  of 
having  the  current  of  my  thought  disturbed. 

Most  women  cling  to  the  Bible  because  they  have  been 
taught  that  to  give  up  that  book  is  to  give  up  all  hope  of 
another  life — of  ever  meeting  again  the  loved  and  lost.  They 
have  also  been  taught  that  the  Bible  is  their  friend,  their 
defender,  and  the  real  civilizer  of  man. 

Now  if  they  will  only  read  this  book — these  three  lectures, 
without  fear,  and  then  read  the  Bible,  they  will  see  that  the 
truth  or  falsity  of  the  dogma  of  inspiration  has  nothing  to  do 
with  the  question  of  immortality.  Certainly  the  Old  Tes- 
tament does  not  teach  us  that  there  is  another  life,  and  upon 
that  question,  even  the  New  is  obscure  and  vague.  The 
hunger  of  the  heart  finds  only  a  few  small  and  scattered 
crumbs.  There  is  nothing  definite,  solid,  and  satisfying. 
United  with  the  idea  of  immortality  we  find  the  absurdity  of 
the  resurrection.  A  prophecy  that  depends  for  its  fulfillment 
upon  an  impossibility,  cannot  satisfy  the  brain  or  heart. 

There  are  but  few  who  do  not  long  for  a  dawn  beyond  the 
night.    And  this  longing  is  born  of,  and  nourished  by,  the 
heart.    Love  wrapped  in  shadow — bending  with  tear-filled  eyes  # 
above  its  dead,  convulsively  clasps  the  outstretched  hand  of 
hope. 


Introduction. 


xiii 


I  had  the  pleasure  of  introducing  Helen  H.  Gardener  to  her 
first  audience^  and  in  that  introduction  said  a  few  words  that  I 
will  repeat. 

We  do  not  know^  we  can  not  say  whether  death  is  a  wall 
or  a  d6or^  the  beginning  or  end  of  a  day,  the  spreading  of 
pinions  to  soar,  or  the  folding  forever  of  wings.  The  rise  or 
the  set  of  a  sun,  of  an  endless  life  that  brings  rapture  and 
love  to  every  one. 

Under  the  seven-hued  arch  of  hope  let  the  dead  sleep. 

They  will  also  discover,  as  they  read  the  Sacred  Volume," 
that  it  is  not  the  friend  of  woman.  They  will  find  that  the 
writers  of  that  book,  for  the  most  part,  speak  of  woman  as 
a  poor  beast  of  burden — a  serf,  a  drudge,  a  kind  of  necessary 
evil — as  mere  property.  Surely  a  book  that  upholds  polygamy 
is  not  the  friend  of  wife  and  mother. 

Even  Christ  did  not  place  woman  on  an  equality  with  man. 
He  said  not  one  word  about  the  sacredness  of  home,  the  duties 
of  the  husband  to  the  wife— nothing  calculated  to  lighten  the 
hearts  of  those  who  bear  the  saddest  burdens  of  this  life. 

They  will  also  find  that  the  Bible  has  not  civilized  mankind. 
A  book  that  establishes  and  defends  slavery  and  wanton  war  is 
not  calculated  to  soften  the  hearts  of  those  who  believe  impli- 
citly that  it  is  the  work  of  God.  A  book  that  not  only  permits, 
but  commands  religious  persecution,  has  not  in  my  judgment 
developed  the  affectional  nature  of  man.  Its  influence  has 
been  bad  and  bad  only.  It  has  filled  the  world  with  bitterness, 
revenge,  and  crime,  and  retarded  in  countless  ways  the  pro- 
gress of  our  race. 

The  writer  of  this  little  volume  has  read  the  Bible  with  open 
eyes.    The  mist  of  sentimentality  has  not  clouded  her  vision. 


xiv 


Introduction, 


She  has  had  the  courage  to  tell  the  result  of  her  investigations. 
She  has  been  quick  to  discover  contradictions.  She  appreciates 
the  humorous  side  of  the  stupidly  solemn.  Her  heart  protests 
against  the  cruel,  and  her  brain  rejects  the  childish,  the  un- 
natural, and  absurd.  There  is  no  misunderstanding  between 
her  head  and  heart.  She  says  what  she  thinks,  and  feels  what 
she  says. 

No  human  being  can  answer  her  arguments.  There  is  no 
answer.  All  the  priests  in  the  world  cannot  explain  away  her 
objections.  There  is  no  explanation.  They  should  remain 
dumb,  unless  they  can  show  that  the  impossible  is  the  probable 
— that  slavery  is  better  than  freedom — that  polygamy  is  the 
friend  of  woman— that  the  innocent  can  justly  suffer  for  the 
guilty,  and  that  to  persecute  for  opinion^s  sake  is  an  act  of  love 
and  worship. 

Wives  who  cease  to  learn— who  simply  forget  and  believe, 
will  fill  the  evening  of  their  lives  with  barren  sighs  and  bitter 
tears.    The  mind  should  outlast  youth. 

If,  when  beauty  fades.  Thought,  the  deft  and  unseen  sculp- 
tor, hath  not  left  his  subtle  lines  upon  the  face,  then  all  is 
lost.  No  charm  is  left.  The  light  is  out.  There  is  no  flame 
within  to  glorify  the  wrinkled  clay. 

ROBERT  G.  INGERSOLL. 

Hoffman  House, 

New  York,  July  22,  1885. 


MEN,  WOMEN,  AND  GODS. 


IT  is  thought  strange  and  particularly  shocking  by  some  per- 
sons for  a  woman  to  question  the  absolute  correctness  of  the 
Bible.  She  is  supposed  to  be  able  to  go  through  this  world 
with  her  eyes  shut,  and  her  mouth  open  wide  enough  to  swallow 
Jonah  and  the  Garden  of  Eden  without  making  a  wry  face.  It 
is  usually  recounted  as  one  of  her  most  beautiful  traits  of  char- 
acter that  she  has  faith  sufficient  to  float  the  Ark  without 
inspecting  the  animals. 

So  it  is  thought  strange  that  a  woman  should  object  to  any  of 
the  teachings  of  the  Patriarchs.  I  claim,  however,  that  if  she 
honestly  thinks  there  is  anything  wrong  about  them,  she  has  a 
right  to  say  so.  I  claim  that  I  have  a  right  to  offer  my  objec- 
tions to  the  Bible  from  the  standpoint  of  a  woman.  I  think 
that  it  is  fair,  at  least,  to  put  the  case  before  you  as  it  looks  to 
me,  using  the  Bible  itself  as  my  chief  witness.  That  Book  I 
think  degrades  and  belittles  women,  and  I  claim  the  right  to 
say  why  I  think  so.  The  opposite  opinion  has  been  stated  by 
hundreds  of  people,  hundreds  of  times,  for  hundreds  of  years, 
so  that  it  is  only  fair  that  I  be  allowed  to  bring  in  a  minority 
report. 

AVomen  have  for  a  long  time  been  asking  for  the  right  to  an 
education,  for  the  right  to  live  on  an  equal  footing  with  their 
brothers,  and  for  the  right  to  earn  money  honestly ;  while  at 
the  same  time  they  have  supported  a  book  and  a  religion,  which 
hold  them  as  the  inferiors  of  their  sons  and  as  objects  of  con- 


2 


Men,  Women,  and  Gods. 


tempt  and  degradation  with  Jehovah.  They  have  sustained  a 
so-called  ''^  revelation  which  holds  them  as  inferior  and  unclean 
things.  Now  it  has  always  seemed  to  me  that  these  ladies  are 
trying  to  stand  on  both  sides  of  the  fence  at  the  same  time — 
and  that  neither  foot  touches. 

I  think  they  are  making  a  mistake.  I  think  they  are  making 
a  mistake  to  sustain  any  religion  which  is  based  upon  faith. 
Even  though  a  religion  claim  a  superhuman  origin — and  I 
believe  they  all  claim  that — it  must  be  tested  by  human  reason^ 
and  if  our  highest  moral  sentiments  revolt  at  any  of  its  dictates^ 
its  dictates  must  go.  For  the  only  good  thing  about  any 
religion  is  its  morality,  and  morality  has  nothing  to  do  with 
faith.  The  one  has  to  do  with  right  actions  in  this  world  ;  the 
other  with  unknown  quantities  in  the  next.  The  one  is  a  neces- 
sity of  Time  ;  the  other  a  dream  of  Eternity.  Morality  depends 
upon  universal  evolution;  Faith  upon  special  revelation 
and  no  woman  can  afford  to  accept  any  revelation  that  has 
yet  been  offered  to  this  world. 

That  Moses  or  Confucius,  Mohammed  or  Paul,  Abraham  or 
Brigham  Young  asserts  that  his  particular  dogma  came  directly 
from  God,  and  that  it  was  a  personal  communication  to  either 
or  all  of  these  favored  individuals,  is  a  fact  that  can  have  no 
power  over  us  unless  their  teachings  are  in  harmony  with  our 
highest  thought,  our  noblest  purpose,  and  our  purest  concep- 
tion of  life.    Which  of  them  can  bear  the  test?    Not  one 

revelation  known  to  man  to-day  can  look  in  the  face  of  the 
nineteenth  century  and  say,  ^^I  am  parallel  with  your  richest 
development ;  I  still  lead  your  highest  thought ;  none  of  my 
teachings  shock  your  sense  of  justice.      Not  one. 

It  is  faith  in  revelation  that  makes  a  mother  tear  from 
her  arms  a  tender,  helpless  child  and  throw  it  in  the  Ganges — 
to  appease  the  gods  !  It  is  a  religion  of  faith  that  teaches  the 
despicable  principle  of  caste — and  that  religion  was  invented  by 
those  who  profited  by  caste.  It  was  our  religion  of  faith  that 
sustained  the  institution  of  slavery — and  it  had  for  its  origina- 


Introductory,  WHr  3 


tors  dealers  in  human  flesh.  It  is  the  Mormon's  religion  of 
faith,  his  belief  in  the  Bible  and  in  the  wisdom  of  Solomon  and 
David,  that  enables  the  monster  of  polygamy  to  flaunt  its 
power  and  its  filth  in  the  face  of  the  morality  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  which  has  outgrown  the  Jehovah  of  the  Jews. 

Every  religion  must  be  tried  at  the  bar  of  human  justice,  and 
stand  or  fall  by  the  verdict  there.  It  has  no  right  to  crouch 
behind  the  theory  of  ^^inspiration''  and  demand  immunity 
from  criticism ;  and  yet  that  is  just  what  every  one  of  them 
does.  They  all  claim  that  we  have  no  right  to  use  our  reason 
on  their  inventions.  But  evil  cannot  be  made  good  by  revela- 
tion, and  good  cannot  be  made  evil  by  persecution. 

A  revelation"  that  teaches  us  to  trample  on  purity,  or  bids 
us  despise  beauty — that  gives  power  to  vice  or  crushes  the  weak 
— is  an  evil.  The  dogma  that  leads  us  to  ignore  our  humanity, 
that  asks  us  to  throw  away  our  pleasures,  that  tells  us  to  be 
miserable  here  in  order  that  we  may  be  happy  hereafter,  is  a 
doctrine  built  upon  a  false  philosophy,  cruel  in  its  premises  and 
false  in  its  promises.  And  the  religion  that  teaches  us  that 
believing  Vice  is  holier  than  unbelieving  Virtue  is  a  grievous 
wrong.  Credulity  is  not  a  substitute  for  morality.  Belief  is 
not  a  question  of  right  or  wrong,  it  is  a  question  of  mental 
organization.  Man  cannot  believe  what  he  will,  he  must 
believe  what  he  must.  If  his  brain  tells  him  one  thing  and  his 
catechism  tolls  him  another,  his  brain  ought  to  win.  You  don't 
leave  your  umbrella  at  home  during  a  storm,  simply  because  the 
almanac  calls  for  a  clear  day. 

A  religion  that  teaches  a  mother  that  she  can  be  happy  in 
heaven,  with  her  children  in  hell — in  everlasting  torment — 
strikes  at  the  very  roots  of  family  affection.  It  makes  the 
human  heart  a  stone.  Love  that  means  no  more  than  that,  is 
not  love  at  all.  No  heart  that  has  ever  loved  can  see  the  object 
of  its  affection  in  pain  and  itself  be  happy.  The  thing  is 
impossible.  Any  religion  that  can  make  that  possible  is  more 
to  be  dreaded  than  war  or  famine  or  pestilence  or  death.  It 


4 


Men,  Women,  and  Gods, 


would  eat  out  all  that  is  great  and  beautiful  and  good  in  this 
life.    It  would  make  life  a  mockery  and  love  a  curse. 

I  once  knew  a  case  myself^  where  an  eldest  son  who  was  an 
unbeliever  died.  He  had  been  a  kind  son  and  a  good  man. 
He  had  shielded  his  widowed  mother  from  every  hardship. 
He  had  tried  to  lighten  her  pain  and  relieve  her  loneliness.  He 
had  worked  early  and  late  to  keep  her  comfortable  and  happy. 
When  he  died  she  was  heartbroken.  It  seemed  to  her  more 
than  she  could  bear.  As  she  sat  and  gazed  at  his  dear  face  in 
a  transport  of  grief^  the  door  opened  and  her  preacher  came  in 
to  bring  her  the  comfort  of  religion.  He  talked  with  her  of 
her  loss^  and  finally  he  said,  ^^But  it  would  not  be  so  hard  for 
you  to  bear  if  he  had  been  a  Christian.  If  he  had  accepted 
what  was  freely  offered  him  you  would  one  day  see  him  again. 
But  he  chose  his  path,  he  denied  his  Lord,  and  he  is  lost. 
And  now,  dear  madam,  place  your  affections  on  your  living 
son,  who  is,  thank  God,  saved.  That  was  the  comfort  he 
brought  her.  That  was  the  consolation  of  his  religion.  I  am 
telling  you  of  an  actual  occurrence.  This  is  all  a  fact.  Well, 
a  few  years  later  that  dear  old  lady  died  in  her  son's  house, 
where  she  had  gone  on  a  visit.  He  broke  her  will — this  son 
who  was  saved — and  brought  in  a  bill  against  her  estate  for  her 
board  and  nursing  while  she  was  ill  !  Which  one  of  those 
boys  do  you  think  would  be  the  best  company  for  her  in  the 
next  world  ? 

It  has  always  seemed  to  me  that  I  would  rather  go  to  hell 
with  a  good  son  than  to  heaven  with  a  good  Christian.  I  may 
be  wrong,  but  with  my  present  light  that  is  the  way  it  looks 
to  me ;  and  for  the  sake  of  humanity  I  am  glad  that  it  looks 
that  way. 

ACCIDENT  INSURANCE. 

A  church  member  said  to  me  some  time  ago  that  even 
though  the  Bible  were  not  the  word  of  God,''  even  though  it 
were  not  necessary  to  believe  in  the  creed  in  order  to  go  to 


Accident  Insurance, 


5 


heaven^  it  could  not  do  any  harm  to  believe  it ;  and  he  thought 
it  was  ^^best  to  be  on  the  safe  side^  for/"  said  he^  suppose 
after  all  it  should  happen  to  be  true  ! 

So  he  carries  a  church -membership  as  a  sort  of  accident 
insurance  policy. 

I  do  not  believe  we  have  a  right  to  work  upon  that  basis. 
It  is  not  honest.  I  do  not  believe  that  any  "  suppose  it  should 
be""  gives  us  the  right  to  teach  "  I  know  that  it  is.""  I  do  not 
believe  in  the  honesty  and  right  of  any  cause  that  has  to  prop 
up  its  backbone  with  faith^  and  splinter  its  legs  with  ignor- 
ance. I  do  not  believe  in  the  harmlessness  of  any  teaching 
that  is  not  based  upon  reason,  justice,  and  truth.  I  do  not 
believe  that  it  is  harmless  to  uphold  any  religion  that  is  not 
noble  and  elevating  in  itself.  I  do  not  believe  that  it  is  just  as 
well""  to  spread  any  dogma  that  stultifies  reason  and  ignores 
common-sense.  I  do  not  believe  that  it  is  ever  well  to  com- 
promise with  dishonesty  and  pretence.  And  I  cannot  admit 
that  it  ^"^can  do  no  harm""  to  teach  a  belief  in  the  goodness  of 
a  God  who  sends  an  Emerson  or  a  Darwin  to  hell  because  Eve 
was  fond  of  fruit,  and  who  offers  a  reserved  seat  in  heaven  to 
Chastine  Cox  because  a  mob  murdered  Jesus  Christ.  It  does 
not  seem  to  me  good  morals,  and  it  is  certainly  poor  logic. 

And  speaking  of  logic,  I  heard  a  funny  story  the  other  day 
about  one  of  those  absurdly  literal  little  girls  who,  when  she 
heard  people  say  they  wanted  to  be  an  angel,""  did  not  know 
it  was  a  joke.  She  thought  it  was  all  honor-bright.  She 
was  standing  by  the  window  killing  flies,  and  her  mother  called 
her  and  said,  My  child,  don"t  you  know  that  is  very  wicked? 
Don't  you  know  that  God  made  those  dear  little  flies,  and  that 
he  loves  them?""  (Just  imagine  an  infinite  God  in  love  with  a 
blue-bottle  fly  !)  Well,  the  little  girl  thought  that  was  queer 
taste,  but  she  was  sorry,  and  said  that  she  would  not  do  it  any 
more.  By  and  by,  however,  a  great  lazy  fly  was  too  tempting, 
and  her  plump  little  finger  began  to  follow  him  around  slowly 
on  the  glass,  and  she  said,  ^ '  Oh  you  nice  big  fly,  did  dod 


6 


Men,  Women,  and  Gods. 


made  you  ?  And  does  dod  love  you  ?  And  does  you  love  dod 
(Down  came  the  finger.)    "  Well,  you  shall  see  him,'' 

Yet  we  all  know  Christians  who  love  God  better  than  any- 
thing else — ^^with  all  their  hearts  and  soul  and  strength  — 
who  prefer  to  postpone  seeing  him  till  the  very  last  minute. 
They  say  it  is  because  they  have  not  fulfilled  their  allotted 
time.^^  Why  not  be  honest  and  say  it  is  because  they  like  to 
live?  They  ^"'long  to  put  on  immortality  f  but  their  sleep  is 
sounder  if  they  live  next  door  to  a  good  doctor. 

People  say  that  men  are  infidels  because  it  is  easier — to  rid 
themselves  of  responsibility.  But  it  seems  to  me  that  anyone 
who  advances  the  doctrine  of  ' '  morality  and  works  instead  of 
that  of  repentance  and  faith/^  on  the  ground  that  it  is  easier, 
is  laboring  under  a  mistake.  I  don^t  see  how  any  one  could  ask 
for  an  easier  way  of  getting  rid  of  his  sins  than  the  plan  that 
simply  unloads  them  on  to  another  man.  I  fail  to  see  anything 
hard  about  that — except  for  the  man  who  catches  the  load ; 
and  I  am  unable  to  see  anything  commendable  about  it  either. 
But  it  is  not  always  easy  for  a  man  to  be  brave  enough  to  be 
responsible  for  his  own  mistakes  or  faults.  It  is  not  always 
easy  for  a  man  to  say  ^^I  did  it,  and  I  will  suffer  the  penalty. 
That  is  not  always  easy,  but  it  is  always  just.  No  one  but  a 
coward  or  a  knave  needs  to  shift  his  personal  responsibility  on 
to  the  shoulders  of  the  dead.  Honest  men  and  women  do  not 
need  to  put  ^  ^  Providence  up  between  themselves  and  their 
own  motives. 

A  short  time  ago  the  wife  of  a  very  devout  man  apparently 
died,  but  her  body  remained  so  lifelike  and  her  color  so  natural 
that  her  relatives  decided  that  she  could  not  be  dead,  and  they 
summoned  a  physician.  The  husband,  however,  refused  to 
have  him  administer  any  restoratives.  He  said  that  if  the 
Lord  had  permitted  her  to  go  into  a  trance  and  was  anxious  to 
bring  her  out  alive  he  would  do  it.  Meanwhile  he  did  not 
intend  to  meddle  with  Providence.  His  maxim  was,  "  Whatever 
else  you  do,  don't  interfere  with  Providence.    Give  Provi- 


C%iefly  Women. 


7 


dence  a  good  chance  and  if  it  doesn^t  come  round  all  right  for 
Betsy,  I  think  I  can  bear  it — and  she  will  have  to/^ 

If  we  take  care  of  our  motives  toward  each  other,  "  Provi- 
dence^^ will  take  care  of  itself. 

Did  you  ever  know  a  pious  man  do  a  real  mean  thing — that 
succeeded — who  did  not  claim  that  Providence  had  a  finger  in 
it  ?  The  smaller  the  trick,  the  bigger  the  finger.  He  is  per- 
fectly honest  in  his  belief  too.  He  is  the  sort  of  man  that 
never  has  a  doubt  about  hell — and  that  most  people  go  there. 
Thinks  they  all  deserve  it.  Has  entire  confidence  that  God 
is  responsible  for  every  word  in  the  Bible,  and  that  all  other 
Bibles  and  all  other  religions  are  the  direct  work  of  the  devil. 
Probably  prays  for  people  who  don^t  believe  that  way.  He  is 
perfectly  honest  in  it.  That  is  simply  his  size,  and  he  usually 
pities  anybody  who  wears  a  larger  hat. 

CHIEFLY  AVOMEI^^. 

But  they  say  this  is  not  a  matter  of  reason.  This  is  out- 
side of  reason,  it  is  all  a  matter  of  faith.  But  whenever  a 
superstition  claims  to  be  so  holy  that  you  must  not  use  your 
reason  about  it,  there  is  something  wrong  some  place.  Truth 
is  not  afraid  of  reason,  nor  reason  of  truth. 

I  am  going  to  say  something  to-night  about  why  I  do  not 
believe  in  a  religion  of  faith.  I  am  going  to  tell  you  some  of 
the  reasons  why  I  do  not  believe  that  the  Bible  is  ''^inspired  ; 
why  I,  as  a  woman,  don't  want  to  think  it  is  the  word  of  God  ; 
why  I  think  that  women,  above  all  others,  should  not  believe 
that  it  is.  And  since  women  are  the  bulwarks  of  the  churches 
to-day,  it  seems  to  me  they  have  the  right,  and  that  it  is  a 
part  of  their  duty,  to  ask  themselves  why.  Since  about  seven- 
tenths  of  all  church-members  are  women,  surely  the  churches 
should  not  deny  them  the  right  to  use  their  reason  (or  what- 
ever serves  them  in  that  capacity)  in  regard  to  their  own  work. 

I  saw  some  ladies  begging  the  other  day  for  money  to  pay 


8 


Men,  Women,  and  Gods. 


off  the  debt  of  a  $200,000  church,  on  the  corner-stone  of  which 
were  cut  the  w^ords,  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world  ;^^.and  I 
wondered  at  the  time  what  the  property  would  have  been  like 
if  the  kingdom  had  been  of  this  world.  It  seemed  to  me  that 
a  few  hundred  such  untaxed  houses  would  be  a  pretty  fair 
property  almost  anywhere. 

One  of  our  prominent  bishops,  when  speaking  recently  of 
church-membership,  said,  '^'^The  Church  must  recruit  her  ranks 
hereafter  almost  entirely  with  children  and  he  added,  '^'^the 
time  has  passed  when  she  can  rci^ruit  her  ranks  with  grown 
men.^^  Good  !  And  the  New  York  Evangelist  (one  of  the 
stro'igest  church  papers)  says,  ^^Four-fifths  of  the  earnest 
ycung  men  of  this  country  are  sceptics,  distrust  the  clergy,  and 
are  disgusted  with  evangelical  Christianity.^^    Good  again. 

The  Congregational  Club  of  Boston  has  recently  been  discuss- 
ing the  question  how  to  win  young  men  to  Christianity.  The 
Eev.  E.  R.  Meredith  said:  ^^The  churches  to-day  do  not  get 
the  best  and  sharpest  young  men.  They  get  the  goody-goody 
ones  easily  enough  ;  but  those  who  do  the  thinking  are  not 
brought  into  the  church  in  great  numbers.  You  cannot  reach 
them  by  the  Bible.  IIow  many  did  Moody  touch  in  this  city 
during  his  revival  days  ?  You  can  count  them  on  your  fingers. 
The  man  who  wants  them  cannot  get  them  with  the  Bible 
under  his  arm.  He  must  be  like  them,  sharp.  They  cannot 
be  gathered  by  sentimentality.  If  you  say  to  them,  '  Come  to 
Jesus, ^  very  likely  they  will  reply,  '  Go  to  thunder.^  [In  Boston  !] 
The  thing  to  be  done  with  such  a  man  is  to  first  get  into  his 
heart,  and  then  lead  him  into  salvation  before  he  knows  it.^' 

I  don^t  know  how  good  this  recipe  is,  but  I  should  infer  that 
it  is  a  double-back-action  affair  of  some  sort  that  could  get  into 
a  man's  heart  and  lead  him  into  salvation  before  he  knew  it, 
and  that  if  the  Church  can  just  get  a  patent  on  that  she  is  all 
right ;  otherwise  I  suspect  that  the  goody-goody  ones  are  likely 
to  be  about  all  she  will  get  in  large  numbers. 

Do  I  need  any  stronger,  plainer  evidence  than  this  to  show 


Cliieji/  Women. 


9 


that  the  thought  of  the  world  is  against  it,  and  that  it  is  time 
for  women  to  ask  themselves  whether  a  faith  that  can  hold 
its  own  only  by  jts  grasp  upon  the  ignorance  and  credulity 
of  children,  a  faith  that  has  made  four-fifths  of  the  earnest 
men  sceptics,  a  faith  that  has  this  deplorable  elfect  upon 
Boston  manners,  is  one  that  does  honor  to  the  intellect  and 
judgment  of  the  women  of  to-day  ? 

We  hear  women  express  indignation  that  the  law  classes 
tliem  with  idiots  and  children ;  but  from  these  orthodox 
statements  it  would  seem  that  in  the  Church  they  voluntarily 
accept  about  this  classification  themselves.  If  only  these 
church-people  go  to  heaven,  what  a  queer  kindergarten  it 
will  be,  to  be  sure,  with  only  a  few  male  voices  to  join  in 
the  choruses  —  and  most  of  those  tenor. 

This  religion  and  the  Bible  require  of  woman  everything, 
and  give  her  nothing.  They  ask  her  support  and  her  love, 
and  repay  her  with  contempt  and  oppression.  No  wonder 
that  four-fifths  of  the  earnest  men  are  against  it,  for  it  is  not 
manly  aild  it  is  not  just ;  and  such  men  are  willing  to  free 
women  from  the  ecclesiastical  bondage  that  makes  her  re- 
sponsible for  all  the  ills  of  life,  for  all  the  pains  of  deed  and 
creed,  while  it  allows  her  no  choice  in  their  formation,  no 
property  in  their  fruition.  Such  men  are  outgrowing  the 
petty  jealousies  and  musty  superstitions  of  narrow-minded  dog- 
matists sufficiently  to  look  upon  the  question  not  as  one  of 
personal  preference,  but  as  one  of  human  justice.  They  do  not 
ask,  Would  /  like  to  see  woman  do  thus  or  thus?^^  but, 
^'Ilave  /  a  right  to  dictate  the  limit  of  her  efforts  or  her 
energy  — not,  ^'^Am  I  benefited  by  her  ecclesiastical  bond- 
age and  credulity?  Does  it  give  me  unlimited  power  over 
her?^^  but,  ^^Have  I  a  right  to  keep  in  ignorance,  have  I  a 
right  to  degrade,  any  human  intellect  And  they  have 
answered  with  equal  dignity  and  impersonal  judgment  that  it 
is  the  birthright  of  no  human  being  to  dominate  or  enslave 
another ;  that  it  is  the  just  lot  of  no  human  being  to  be 


10 


Men,  Women,  and  Gods. 


born  subject  to  the  arbitrary  will  or  dictates  of  any  living 
soul ;  and  that  it  is^  after  all,  as  great  an  injustice  to  a  maoi 
to  make  him  a  tyrant  as  it  is  to  make  him  a  slave. 

Whenever  a  man  rises  high  enough  to  leave  his  own  per- 
sonality out  of  the  question,  he  has  gone  beyond  the  stage 
of  silly  platitudes.  His  own  dignity  is  too  secure,  his  title 
to  respect  too  far  beyond  question,  for  him  to  need  such  ^ 
little  subterfuges  to  guard  his  position,  either  as  husband,  as 
household-king,  or  as  public  benefactor.  His  home  life  is 
not  founded  upon  compulsory  obedience ;  but  is  filled  with 
the  perfume  of  perfect  trust,  the  fragrance  of  loving  admira- 
tion and  respect.  It  is  the  domestic  tyrant,  the  egotistic 
mediocre,  and  the  superstitious  Church  that  are  afraid  for 
v/omen  to  think,  that  fear  to  lose  her  as  worshipper  and  serf. 

You  need  go  only  a  very  little  way  back  in  history  to  learn 
that  the  Church  decided  that  a  woman  who  learned  the  alpha- 
bet overstepped  all  bounds  of  propriety,  and  that  she  would  be 
wholly  lost  to  shame  who  should  so  far  forget  her  modesty 
as  to  become  acquainted  with  the  multiplication  table. 

And  to-day,  if  she  offers  her  opinion  and  her  logic  for  what 
they  are  worth,  the  clergy  preach  doleful  sermons  about  her 
losing  her  beautiful  home  character,  about  her  innocence  being 
gone,  about  their  idea  of  her  glorious  exaltation  as  wife 
and  mother  being  destroyed.  Then  they  grow  florid  and 
exclaim  that  ^^man  is  after  all  subject  to  her,  that  he  is  born 
for  the  rugged  path  and  she  for  the  coucTi-Qf  flowers  !  * 

t  *"A  pertinacious  adversary,  pushed  to  extremities,  may  say  that 
husbands  indeed  are  willing  to  be  reasonable,  and  to  msbJ^  fair  con- 
cessions to  their  partners  without  being  compelled  to  it,^but  that 
wives  are  not ;  that  if  allowed  any  rights  of  their  own,  they  will 
acknowledge  no  rights  at  all  in  any  one  else,  and  never  will  yield  in 
anything,  unless  they  can  be  compelled,  by  the  man's  mere  authority, 
to  yield  in  everything.  This  would  have  been  said  by  many  pei^ons 
some  generations  ago,  when  satires  on  women  were  in  vogue,  and 
men  thought  it  a  clever  thing  to  insult  women  for  being  what  men 
made  them.    But  it  will  be  said  by  no  one  now  who  is  worth  replying 


Chiefly  Women. 


11 


You  recognize  it  all^  I  see.  You  seem  to  have  heard  it 
somewhere  before.  I  recall  one  occasion  when  I  heard  it 
from  a  country  clergyman^  who  knew  so  much  about  heaven 
and  hell  that  he  hardly  had  time  to  know  enough  about  this 
world  to  enable  him  to  keep  out  of  the  fire  unless  he  was  tied 
to  a  chair.  It  was  in  the  summer  of  1876,  and  I  remember 
the  conversation  began  by  his  asking  a  lady  in  the  room  about 
the  Centennial  display,  from  which  she  had  just  returned.  He 
asked  her  if  she  would  advise  him  to  take  his  daughter.  She 
said  she  thought  it  would  be  a  very  nice  thing  for  the  girl, 
and  she  added,  ^"^It  will  be  good  for  you.  You  will  see  so 
much  that  is  new  and  wonderful.  It  will  be  of  use  to  you  in 
your  work,  I  am  sure.^'  He  said,  ^'^  AVell,  I  don^t  know  about 
that.  There  won^t  be  anything  much  that  is  new  to  me. 
IVe  seen  it  all.  I  was  i7i  PhUadelphia  in  1840.^^  Then  he 
gave  us  quite  a  talk  on  ^'^woman^s  sphere.  He  could  tell  you 
in  five  minutes  just  what  it  was ;  and  the  amount  of  informa- 
tion that  man  possessed  about  the  next  w^orld  was  simply 
astonishing.  He  knew  pretty  nearly  everything.  I  think  he 
could  tell  you,  within  a  fraction  or  two,  just  how  much  mate- 
rial it  took  to  make  wings  for  John  the  Baptist,  and  whether 
Paul  sings  bass  or  tenor.  His  presbytery  says  he  is  a  most 
remarkable  theologian  —  and  I  don^t  doubt  it.  According  to 
the  law  of  compensation,  however,  what  he  does  not  know 
about  this  world  would  make  a  very  comprehensive  encyclo- 
pedia. 

But  seriously,  did  it  ever  occur  to  you  to  ask  any  of  these 
divine  oracles  why,  if  all  these  recent  compliments  are  true 

to.  It  is  not  the  doctrine  of  the  present  day  that  women  are  less 
susceptible  of  good  feeling  and  consideration  for  those  with  whom 
they  are  united  by  the  strongest  ties,  than  men  are.  On  the  contrary, 
we  are  perpetually  told  that  women  are  better  than  men  by  those 
who  are  totally  opposed  to  treating  them  as  if  they  were  as  good;  so 
that  the  saying  has  passed  into  a  piece  of  tiresome  cant,  intended  to 
put  a  complimentary  face  upon  an  injury."  — Jo/in  Stuart  Mill 


Men,  Women,  and  Oods, 


about  tlie  superior  beauty  and  virtue  and  truth  and  power 
resting  with  women  —  why  it  is  that  they  always  desire  as  heirs 
sons  rather  than  daughters?  You  would  tliink  their  whole 
desire  would  be  for  girls,  and  that,  like  Oliver  Twist,  their 
chief  regret  would  be  that  they  hadn't  ^^more/^  But  the 
Bible  (and  the  clergy,  until  quite  recently)  pronounces  it  twice 
as  great  a  crime  to  be  the  mother  of  a  girl  as  to  be  the  mother 
of  a  boy.  A  crime  to  be  the  mother  of  a  little  child  —  a 
double  crime  if  the  child  should  be  a  girl.* 

It  is  often  urged  that  women  are  better  ofE  under  the  Chris- 
tian than  under  any  other  religion  ;  that  our  Bible  is  more  just 
to  her  than  other  Bibles  are.  For  the  time  we  will  grant  this, 
and  respectfully  inquire  —  what  does  it  prove  ?  If  it  proves  any- 
thing it  is  this  —  that  all  divine  revelations^^  are  an  indignity 
to  women,  and  that  they  had  better  stick  to  nature.  Nature 
may  be  exacting,  but  she  is  not  partial.  If  it  proves  anything, 
it  is  that  all  religions  have  been  made  by  men  for  men  and 
through  men.  I  do  not  contend  for  the  superiority  of  other 
Bibles,  I  simply  protest  against  the  wrong  in  ours.  One  wrong 
cannot  excuse  another.  That  murder  is  worse  than  arson  does 
not  make  a  hero  of  the  rascal  who  fires  our  homes.  If  Allah 
were  more  cruel  than  Jehovah,  that  would  be  no  palliation  of 
the  awful  crimes  of  the  Old  Testament.  That  slaves  have 
better  clothes  than  savages  cannot  make  noble  traffic  in  human 
blood.  A  choice  of  evils  is  often  necessary,  but  it  does  not 
make  either  of  them  a  good.  But  there  is  no  book  which  tells 
of  a  more  infamous  monster  than  the  Old  Testament,  with  its 
Jehovah  of  murder  and  cruelty  and  revenge,  unless  it  be  the 
New  Testament,  which  arms  its  God  with  hell,  and  extends 
his  outrages  throughout  all  eternity  ! 

WHY  WOMEK  SUPPORT  IT. 

Another  argument  is  that  if  orthodox  Christianity  were  not 
good  for  women  they  would  not  support  and  cling  to  it ;  if 
*  See  Appendix  K. 


Why  Women  Support  It. 


13 


it  did  not  comfort  them  they  would  discard  it.  In  reply  to 
that  I  need  only  recall  to  you  the  fact  that  it  is  the  same  in  all 
religions.  Women  have  ever  been  the  stanchest  defenders  of 
the  faith,  the  most  bitter  haters  of  an  infidel,  the  most  certain 
that  their  form  of  faith  is  the  only  truth.*  Yet  I  do  not  hear 
this  fact  advanced  to  prove  the  divinity  of  the  Koran  or  the 
book  of  Mormon.  If  it  is  a  valid  argument  in  the  one  case  it  is 
valid  in  the  others.  The  trouble  with  it  is  it  proves  too  much. 
It  takes  in  the  whole  field.  It  does  not  leave  a  weed,  from 
the  first  incantation  of  the  first  aborigine  to  the  last  shout  of  the 
last  convert  to  Mormonism,  out  of  its  range ;  and  it  does,  and 
always  has  done,  just  as  good  service  for  any  one  of  the  other 
religions  as  it  does  for  ours.  It  is  a  free-for-all,  go-as-you-please 
argument;  but  it  is  the  sort  of  chaff  they  feed  theological 
students  on — and  they  sift  it  over  for  women.  It  is  pretty 
light  diet  when  it  gets  to  them — but  it  is  filling. 

Eecently  I  heard  a  clergyman  give  the  following  as  his  reason 
for  opposing  medical,  or  scientific  training  of  any  sort,  for 
women  :  Now  her  whole  energy  and  force  of  action  (outside  of 
the  family)  must  be  expended  upon  religion.  If  she  were 
allowed  other  fields  of  action  or  thought,  her  energy,  like 
that  of  man,  would  be  withdrawn  from  and  fatally  cripp)le  tlie 
Church,'^ 

To  me,  however,  it  seems  that  any  organization  that  finds  it 
necessary  to  cripple  its  adherents  in  order  to  keep  them  has  a 
screw  loose  somewhere. 

And  it  also  seems  to  me  that  it  is  time  for  women  to  try  to 
find  out  where  the  trouble  is.  They  will  not  want  for  aid  from 
the  men  who  think — the  men  who  hold  self  vastly  inferior  to 
principle  a^jd  justice — the  rare  noblemen  of  nature,  honorable, 
fair,  just,  tender,  and  thoughtful  men — men  who  love  to  see 
the  weakest  share  with  them  the  benefits  of  freedom — men  who 
know  that  they  are  not  the  less  men  because  they  are  tender, 


*  See  Appendix,  Gl. 


14 


Men,  Women,  and  Gods. 


that  women  are  not  the  less  women  because  they  are  strong ; 
and  no  land  under  the  sky  jholds  so  many  such  as  ours. 


It  seemed  to  me  that  the  time  had  come  when  women  should 
know  for  themselves  what  the  Bible  teaches  for  them  and  what 
the  pulpit  has  upheld ;  so  I  have  looked  it  up  a  little,  and 


there  is  enough,  I  think,  that  I  m^  use  to  make  any  self- 
respecting,  pure  woman  blush  that  she  has  sustained  it  by  word 
or  act. 

The  Bible  teaches  that  a  father  may  sell  his  daughter  for  a 
slave,*  that  he  may  sacrifice  her  purity  to  a  mob,t  and  that  he 
may  murder  her,  and  still  be  a  good  father  and  a  holy  man.  It 
teaches  that  a  man  may  have  any  number  of  wives  ;  that  he  may 
sell  them,  give  them  away,  or  swap  them  around,  and  still  be 
a  perfect  gentleman,  a  good  husband,  a  righteous  man,  and  one 
of  God^s  most  intimate  friends ;  and  that  is  a  pretty  good 
position  for  a  beginning.  It  teaches  almost  every  infamy  under 
the  heavens  for  woman,  and  it  does  not  recognize  her  as  a  self- 
directing,  free  human  being.  It  classes  her  as  property,  just 
as  it  does  a  sheep  :  and  it  forbids  her  to  think,  talk,  act,  or  exist, 
except  under  conditions  and  limits  defined  by  some  priest. 

If  the  Bible  were  strictly  followed,  women  and  negroes  would 
still  be  publicly  bought  and  sold  in  America.  If  it  were 
believed  in  as  it  once  was,  if  the  Church  had  the  power  she 
once  had,  I  should  never  see  the  light  of  another  day,  and  your 
lives  would  be  made  a  hell  for  sitting  here  to-night.  The  iron 
grasp  of  superstition  would  hold  you  and  your  children  forever 
over  the  bottomless  pit  of  religious  persecution,  and  cover  your 
fair  fame  with  infamous  slander,  because  you  dared  to  sit  here 
and  hear  me  strike  a  blow  at  infinite  injustice. 

Every  injustice  that  has  ever  been  fastened  upon  women  in  a 
Christian  country  has  been     authorized  by  the  Bible  and 


WHAT  IT  TEACHES. 


although  I  cannot  soil  my  lips 


with  much  of  it, 


*Ex.  xxi.  7. 


t  Judges  xix.  24  ;  Gen.  xix.  8. 


What  It  Teaches. 


15 


riveted  and  perpetuated  by  the  pulpit.  That  seems  strong 
language,  no  doubt ;  but  I  shall  give  you  an  opportunity  to 
decide  as  to  its  truth.  I  will  now  bring  my  witnesses.  They 
are  from  the  inspired  word^^  itself,  and  therefore  must  be  all 
that  could  be  desired. 

I  will  read  you  a  short  passage  from  Exodus  xx.  22  ;  xxi.  7-8  : 

22  And  the  LORD-^aid  unto  Moses,  Thus  thou  shalt  say  unto  the* 
/Children  of  Israel,  Ye  li^ve  seen  that  I  talked  with  you  from  heaven. 

7  And  if  a  man  sell  his  daughter  to  be  a  maid-servant,  she  shall 
not  go  out  as  the  men-servants  do. 

8  If  she  please  not  her  master,  who  hath  betrothed  her  to  himself, 
then  shall  he  let  her  be  redeemed  :  to  sell  her  unto  a  strange  nation 
he  shall  have  no  power,  seeing>^he  hath  dealt  deceitfully  with  her. 

The  Lord  doesn^t  object  to  a  man  selling  his  daughter,  but 
if  any  one  thing  makes  him  madder  than  another  it  is  to  have 
her  go  about  as  the  men-servants  do  after  she  is  sold.  On  a 
little  point  like  that  he  is  absolutely  fastidious.  You  may  here 
notice  that  Gqft  took  the  trouble  to  come  down  from  heaven  to 
tell  the  girl  what  not  to  do  after  she  was  sold.  He  forgot  to 
suggest  to  her  lather  that  it  might  be  as  well  not  to  sell  her  at 
all.  He  forgot  that.  But  in  an  important  conversation  one 
often  overlooks  little  details.    The  next  is  Joshua  xv.  16-17  : 

,  16  And  Caleb  said.  He  that  smiteth  Kirjath-sepher,  and  taketh  it, 
to  him  will  I  give  Achsah  my  daughter  to  wife.S 

17  And  Othniel  the  brother  of  Caleb  [and  consequently  the  girl's 
l' uncle]  took  it  :  and  lie  gave  him  Achsah  his  daughter  to  wife,^ 

Please  to  remember  that  the  said  Caleb  was  one  of  God's 
intimates — a  favorite  with  the  Almighty.  The  girl  was  not 
consulted  ;  the  father  paid  off  his  w^arriors  in  female  scrip.  The 
next  is  Gen.  xix.  5-8  : 

5  And  they  called  unto  Lot,  and  said  unto  him.  Where  are  the 
men  which  came  in  to  thee  this  night?  bring  them  out  unto  us  that 
we  may  know  them. 


16 


Men,  Women,  and  Gods. 


6  And  Lot  went  out  at  the  door  unto  them,  and  shut  the  door  after 
him, 

7  And  said,  I  pray  you,  brethren,  do  not  so  wickedly. 

8  Behold  now,  I  have  two  daughters  ***** 
let  me,  I  pray  you,  bring  them  out  unto  you,  and  do  ye  to  them  as  is 
good  in  your  eyes ;  only  unto  these  men  do  nothing ;  for  therefore 
came  they  under  the  shadow  of  my  roof. 

These  men  had  come  under  the  shadow  of  Lot^s  roof  for  pro- 
tection, it  seems,  and  Lot  felt  that  his  honor  demanded  that  he 
should  shield  them  even  at  the  cost  of  the  purity  and  safety  of 
his  own  daughters  !  Do  you  know  I  have  always  had  a  mild 
curiosity  to  know  what  his  daughters  were  under  the  shadow  of 
his  roof  for.  It  could  not  have  been  for  protection,  I  judge, 
since  Lot  was  one  of  God^s  best  friends.  He  was  on  all  sorts  of 
intimate  terms  with  the  Deity — knew  things  were  going  to 
happen  before  they  came — was  the  only  man  good  enough  to 
save  from  a  doomed  city — the  only  one  whose  acts  pleased  God  ; 
and  this  act  seems  to  have  been  particularly  satisfactory.  These 
men  were  angels  of  God^^  who  required  this  infamy  for  their 
protection !  If  it  takes  all  the  honor  put  of  a  man  when  he  gets 
to  be  an  angel,  they  may  use  my  wings  for  a  feather-duster. 

Now  here  is  a  little  property  law.    Num.  xxvii.  : 

6  And  the  Lord  spake  unto  Moses,  saying, 

8  And  thou  shalt  speak  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  saying,  If  a  man 
die,  and  have  no  son,  then  ye  shall  cause  his  inheritance  to  pass  unto 
his  daughter. 

And  our  law  works  a  little  that  way  yet ;  being  the  result  of 
ecclesiastical  law  it  naturally  would.* 
Next  we  have  Num.  xxxvi.  : 

8  And  every  daughter  that  possesseth  an  inheritance  in  any  tribe  of 
the  children  of  Israel,  shall  be  ivife  unto  one  of  the  family  of  the  tribe 
of  her  father,  that  the  children  of  Israel  may  enjoy  every  man  the 
inheritance  of  his  fathers. 

9  Neither  shall  the  inheritance  remove  from  one  tribe  to  another 

*  See  Appendix  N.  5  and  P.  5. 


What  It  Teaches. 


17 


tribe  ;  but  every  one  of  the  tribes  of  the  children  of  Israel  shall  keep 
himself  to  his  own  inheritance. 

10  Even  as  the  Lord  commanded  Moses,  so  did  the  daughters  of 
Zelophehad, 

That  is  all  tlie  women  were  for — articles  of  conveyance  for 
property.  Save  the  land^,  no  matter  about  the  girls.  Now 
these  silly  women  actually  believed  that  God  told  Moses  whom 
they  had  to  marry  just  because  Moses  said  so!  I  tell  you,  ladies 
and  gentlemen,  it  is  not  safe  to  take  heavenly  communications 
at  second-hand.  Second-hand  articles  are  likely  to  be  varnished 
over,  and  have  to  be  taken  at  a  discount.  And  it  seems  to  me 
that,  if  the  Lord  is  at  all  particular  as  to  whom  a  girl  should 
marry,  she  is  the  one  for  him  to  discuss  the  matter  with. 
Moses  didn't  have  to  live  with  the  sons  of  Zelophehad,  and  con- 
sequently wasn't  the  one  to  talk  the  matter  over  with.  But, 
you  see,  it  won't  do  to  qu.estion  what  Moses  said  God  told  him, 
because  upon  his  veracity  the  whole  structure  is  built.  He  had 
more  personal  interviews  with  the  Deity  than  any  other  man 
— he  and  Solomon — and  hence  they  are  the  best  authority. 

I  have  here  the  31st  chapter  of  Numbers,  but  it  is  unfit  to 
read.  It  tells  a  story  of  shame  and  crime  unequalled  in  atro- 
city. It  tells  that  God  commanded  Moses  and  Eleazar,  the 
priest,  to  produce  vice  and  perpetrate  crime  'on  an  unparalleled 
scale.  It  tells  us  that  they  obeyed  the  order,  and  that  16,000 
helpless  girls  were  dragged  in  the  mire  of  infamy  and  divided 
amongst  the  victorious  soldiers.  They  were  made  dissolute  by 
force,  and  by  direct  command  of  God  ! 

This  one  chapter  stamps  as  false,  forever,  the  claim  of  inspi- 
ration for  the  Bible.  That  one  chapter  would  settle  it  for  me. 
Do  you  believe  that  God  told  Moses  that  ?  Do  you  believe  there 
is  a  God  who  is  a  thief,  a  murderer,  and  a  defiler  of  innocent 
girls?  Do  you  believe  it?  Yet  this  religion  is  built  upon 
Moses'  word,  and  woman's  position  was  established  by  him.  It 
seems  to  me  time  for  women  to  retire  Moses  from  active  life. 
Coax  him  to  resign  on  account  of  his  health.    Keturn  him  to 


18 


Me7i,  Women,  and  Gods. 


his  constituency.  He  has  been  on  the  supreme  bench  long 
enough.  Don^t  let  your  children  believe  in  such  a  God.  Better 
let  them  believe  in  annihilation.  Better  let  them  think  that 
>the  sleep  of  death  is  the  end  of  all !  Better^  much  better^  let 
them  believe  that  the  tender  kiss  at  parting  is  the  last  of  al] 
consciousness  for  them^  and  after  that  eternal  rest !  Don^t  let 
their  hearts  be  seared^  their  lives  clouded^  their  intellects 
dwarfed  by  the  cruel  dread  of  the  God  of  Moses  !  Better, 
thrice  better,  let  the  cold  earth  close  over  the  loved  and  loving 
dust  forever,  than  that  it  should  enter  the  portals  of  infinite 
tyranny. 

Next  we  will  take  Deut.  xx.  10-16  : 

10  When  thou  comest  nigh  unto  a  city  to  fight  against  it,  then 
proclaim  peace  unto  it.   [Good  scheme  \\ 

11  And  it  shall  be,  if  it  make  thee  answer  of  peace,  and  open  unto 
thee,  then  it  shall  be,  that  all  the  people  that  is  found  therein  shall 
be  tributaries  unto  thee,  and  they  shall  serve  thee. 

12  And  if  it  will  make  no  peace  with  thee,  but  will  make  war 
against  thee,  then  thou  shalt  besiege  it : 

13  And  when  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  delivered  it  into  thy  hands, 
thou  shalt  smite  every  male  thereof  with  the  edge  of  the  sword : 

14  But  the  women,  and  the  little  ones,  and  the  cattle,  and  all  that 
is  in  the  city,  even  all  the  spoil  thereof,  shalt  thou  take  unto  thyself ; 
and  thou  shalt  eat  the  spoil  of  thy  enemies,  which  the  Lord  thy 
God  hath  given  thee. 

15  Thus  shalt  thou  do  unto  all  the  cities  which  are  very  far  off 
from  thee,  which  are  not  of  the  cities  of  these  nations. 

16  But  of  the  cities  of  these  people,  which  the  Lord  thy  God  doth 
give  thee  for  an  inheritance,  thou  shalt  save  alive  nothing  that 
breatheth. 

'J'he  injunction  to  proclaim  peace  unto  a  city  about  to  be 
attacked  and  plundered  strikes  me  as  a  particularly  brilliant 
idea.  When  you  go  to  rob  and  murder  a  man,  just  tell  him  to 
keep  cool  and  behave  like  a  gentleman  and  you  won^t  do  a 
thing  to  him  but  steal  all  his  property  and  cut  his  throat  and 
retire  in  good  order.    God  always  seemed  to  fight  on  the  side 


What  It  Teaches. 


19 


of  the  man  who  would  murder  most  of  his  fellow-men  and 
degrade  the  greatest  number  of  women.  He  seemed^  in  fact, 
to  rather  insist  on  this  point  if  he  was  particular  about  nothing 
else.  And,  by  the  way,  if  you  had  happened  to  live  in  one  of 
those  cities,  what  opinion  do  you  think  you  would  have  had  of 
Jehovah  ?  Would  he  have  impressed  you  as  a  loving  Father  ? 
Here  we  have  2  Samuel  v.  10,  12-13  : 

10  And  David  went  on,  and  grew  great,  and  the  Lord  God  of  hosts 
ivas  with  him. 

12  And  David  perceived  that  the  Lord  had  established  him  king 
over  Israel,  and  that  he  had  exalted  his  kingdom  for  his  people  Israel's 
sake. 

13  And  David  took  Mm  more  concubines  and  wives  out  of  Jerusa- 
lem, after  he  v^as  come  from  Hebron :  and  there  were  yet  sons  and 
daughters  born  to  David. 

The  nearer  he  got  to  God — the  more  God  was  ^^with  him,^^ 
the  more  wives  he  wanted. 

Next  we  have  2  Samuel  xx.  3  : 

3  And  David  came  to  his  house  at  Jerusalem,  and  the  king  took 
the  ten  women,  his  concubines,  whom  he  had  left  to  keep  the  house, 
and  put  them  m  v^ard,  and  fed  them      ^      *      -x-      *  * 
they  were  shut  up  unto  the  day  of  their  death,  living  in  widowhood. 

Now  what  did  David  do  that  for  ?  I  don^t  know.  It  was 
such  a  trifling  little  matter  that  it  was  not  thought  necessary 
to  give  any  reason.  Perhaps  he  had  eaten  too  much  pie  and 
felt  cross  ;  and  what  else  were  those  women  for  but  to  be  made 
stand  around  on  such  occasions?  Weren^t  they  his  property ? 
Didn^t  those  ten  women  belong  to  David  ?  Hadn't  he  a  perfect 
right  to  shut  them  up  and  feed  them  if  he  wanted  to  ?  Don^t 
you  think  it  was  kind  of  him  to  feed  them  ?  I  wonder  if  he 
sang  any  of  his  psalms  to  them  through  the  key-hole.  His  son 
Absalom  had  just  been  killed,  and  he  felt  miserable  about  that. 
He  had  just  delivered  himself  of  that  touching  apostrophe  we 
often  hear  repeated  from  the  pulpit  to-day,  to  awaken  sympathy 


20 


Men,  Women,  and  Gods. 


for  God^s  afflicted  prophet :  ^*^0  my  son  Absalom^  my  son^  my 
son  Absalom  !  would  God  I  had  died  for  thee,  0  Absalom,  my 
son,  my  son  ! And  I  haven^t  a  donbt  that  there  were  at  least 
ten  women  who  echoed  that  wish  most  heartily.  It  must  have 
been  carried  in  the  family  without  a  dissenting  vote. 

To  this  God  of  the  Bible  a  woman  may  not  go  unless  her 
father  or  husband  consents.  She  can^t  even  promise  to  be 
good  without  asking  permission.  This  God  holds  no  communi- 
cation with  women  unless  their  male  relations  approve.  He 
wants  to  be  on  the  safe  side,  I  suppose.  1^11  read  you  about 
that.  It  is  in  one  of  the  chapters  that  are  not  commonly  cited 
as  evidence  that  God  is  no  respecter  of  persons,  and  that  the 
Bible  holds  woman  as  man^s  equal  ;  nevertheless  it  is  as  worthy 
of  belief  as  any  of  the  rest  of  it,  and  its  Thus  saith  the  Lord 
and  "^^as  the  Lord  commanded  Moses  are  frequent  and  pain- 
ful and  free,^'  as  Mr.  Bret  Harte  might  say.  The  chapter  is 
Numbers  xxx. : 

And  Moses  spake  unto  the  heads  of  the  tribes  concerning  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel,  saying,  This  is  the  thing  which  the  Lord  hath  com- 
manded. 

2  If  a  man  vow  a  vow  unto  the  Lord,  or  swear  an  oath  to  bind  his 
soul  with  a  bond  ;  he  shall  not  break  his  word,  he  shall  do  according 
to  all  that  proceedeth  out  of  his  mouth. 

3  If  a  woman  also  vow  a  vow  unto  the  Lord,  and  bind  herself  by 
a  bond,  being  in  her  father's  house  in  her  youth ; 

4  And  her  father  hear  her  vow,  and  her  bond  wherewith  she  hath 
bound  her  soul,  and  her  father  shall  hold  his  peace  at  her ;  then  all 
her  vows  shall  stand,  and  every  bond  wherewith  she  hath  bound  her 
soul  shall  stand. 

5  But  if  her  father  disallow  her  in  the  day  that  he  heareth  ;  not 
any  of  her  vows,  or  of  her  bonds  wherewith  she  hath  bound  her  soul, 
shall  stand :  and  the  Lord  shall  forgive  her,  because  her  father  dis- 
allowed her. 

6  And  if  she  had  at  all  an  husband,  when  she  vowed,  or  uttered 
aught  out  of  her  lips,  wherewith  she  bound  her  soul ; 

7  And  her  husband  heard  it,  and  held  his  peace  at  her  in  the  day 
that  he  heard  it ;  then  her  vows  shall  stand,  and  her  bonds  wherewith 
she  bound  her  soul  shall  stand. 


What  It  Teaches. 


21 


8  But  if  her  husband  disallowed  her  on  the  day  that  he  heard  it ; 
then  he  shall  make  her  vow  which  she  vowed,  and  that  which  she 
uttered  with  her  lips,  wherewith  she  bound  her  soul,  of  none  effect ; 
and  the  Lord  shall  forgive  her. 

9  But  every  vow  of  a  widow,  and  of  her  that  is  divorced,  where- 
with they  have  bound  their  souls,  shall  stand  against  her. 

10  And  if  she  vowed  in  her  husband's  house,  or  bound  her  soul  by 
a  bond  with  an  oath ; 

11  And  her  husband  heard  it,  and  held  his  peace  at  her,  and  dis- 
allowed her  not ;  then  all  her  vows  shall  stand,  and  every  bond  where- 
with she  bound  her  soul  shall  stand. 

12  But  if  her  husband  hath  utterly  made  them  void  on  the  day  he 
heard  them  ;  then  whatsoever  proceeded  out  of  her  lips  concerning 
her  vows,  or  concerning  the  bond  of  her  soul,  shall  not  stand :  her 
husband  hath  made  them  void  ;  and  the  Lord  shall  forgive  her. 

13  Every  vow,  and  every  binding  oath  to  afflict  the  soul,  her  hus- 
band may  establish  it,  or  her  husband  may  make  it  void. 

14  But  if  the  husband  altogether  hold  his  peace  at  her  from  day  to 
day  ;  then  he  establisheth  all  her  vows,  or  all  her  bonds,  which  are 
upon  her :  he  confirmeth  them,  because  he  held  his  peace  at  her  in 
the  day  that  he  heard  them, 

15  But  if  he  shall  any  ways  make  them  void  after  that  he  hath 
heard  them  ;  then  he  shall  bear  her  iniquity. 

16  These  are  the  statutes,  which  the  Lord  commanded  Moses, 
between  a  man  and  his  wife,  between  the  father  and  his  daughter, 
being  yet  in  her  youth  in  her  father's  house. 

Between  man  and  his  God  they  tell  us  there  is  no  one  but  a 
Eedeemer  ;  but  between  woman  and  man^s  God  there  seems  to 
be  all  her  male  relations^  which^  I  should  thinks  would  pre- 
vent any  very  close  intimacy.  And  by  the  time  the  divine 
commands  to  woman  were  filtered  through  the  entire  male 
population^,  from  Moses  to  the  last  gentleman  who,  in  the  con- 
fusion natural  to  the  occasion,  misquotes  "^Mvith  all  thy  worldly 
goods  I  me  endow/^  I  should  think  it  not  impossible  that 
some  slight  errors  may  have  crept  in,  and  the  Church  should 
not  feel  offended  if  I  were  to  aid  her  in  their  detection. 

Here  we  have  two  or  three  passages  that  are  said  to  be  the 
words  of  Jesus.    I  hope  that  is  not  true.    But  I,  believing  him 


22 


MeUy  Women,  and  Gods. 


to  have  been  a  man^  can  understand  how  they  might  have  been 
the  words  of  even  a  very  good  man  in  that  age  and  with  his 
surroundings ;  but  the  words  of  a  perfect  being — never  !  Of 
course  I  know  that  we  have  no  positive  knowledge  of  any  of  the 
words  of  Jesus^  since  no  one  pretends  that  they  were  ever 
written  down  until  long  after  his  death ;  but  I  am  dealing 
now  with  the  theological  creation  upon  the  theologian^s  own 
grounds.  My  own  idea  of  Jesus  places  him  far  above  the 
myth  that  bears  his  name. 

3  And  when  they  wanted  wine,  the  mother  of  Jesus  saith  unto  him, 
They  have  no  wine. 

4  Jesus  saith  unto  her,  Woman,  what  have  I  to  do  with  thee  9 

— John  ii,  3-4. 

I  hope  that  Christ  did  not  say  that — for  his  manhood  I  hope 
so.  I  would  rather  believe  that  this  is  the  mistake  of 
some  uninspired  writer  than  think  that  one  who  in  much 
had  so  gentle  and  tender  a  nature^  was  unkind  and  brutal  to 
his  mother.  'No  one  would  attempt^,  in  this  age^  to  apologize 
for  such  a  reply  to  so  simple  a  remark  made  by  a  mother  to 
her  son.  But  they  say  ^Mie  was  divine.  They  also  tell  us 
he  was  a  perfect  example  ;  but  with  this  evidence  before  me, 
I  am  glad  our  men  are  human.  Still  I  cannot  pretend  to  say 
that  this  is  not  divine — never  having  made  any  divine  acquaint- 
ances.   I  can  only  say,  humanity  is  better. 

Then  again  he  is  reported  to  have  said  a  most  cruel  thing  to 
the  broken-hearted  mother  of  a  dying  child,  and  I  would  rather 
believe  the  Bible  uninspired  and  keep  my  respect  for  Jesus,  the 
man.  It  will  be  better  for  this  world  to  believe  in  Jesus,  the 
brave,  earnest  man,  than  in  Jesus,  the  cruel  God. 

21  Then  Jesus  went  thence,  and  departed  into  the  coasts  of  Tyre 
and  Sidon. 

22  And  behold,  a  woman  of  Canaan  came  out  of  the  same  coasts, 
and  cried  unto  him,  saying,  Have  mercy  on  me,  O  Lord,  thou  Son  of 
David  ;  my  daughter  is  grievously  vexed  with  a  devil. 

^3  But  he  answered  her  not  a  word. 


What  It  Teaches, 


23 


25  Then  came  she  and  worshiped  him,  saying,  Lord,  help  me. 

26  But  he  answered  and  saidsSjt  is  not  meet  to  take  the  children's 


bread,  and  to  cast  it  to  dogs.      ^  ^ 

27  And  she  said.  Truth,  Lor^d  :  yet  the  dogs  eat  of  the  crumbs  which 


Do  you  think  that  was  kind  ?  Do  you  think  it  was  godlike  ? 
AVhat  would  you  think  of  a  physician,  if  a  woman  came  to  him 
distressed  and  said,  Doctor,  come  to  my  daughter;  she  is 
very  ill.  She  has  lost  her  reason,  and  she  is  all  I  have 
What  would  you  think  of  the  doctor  who  would  not  reply  at  all 
at  first,  and  then,  when  she  fell  at  his  feet  and  worshiped  him, 
answered  that  he  did  not  spend  his  time  doctoring  dogs? 
Would  you  like  him  as  a  family  physician  ?  Do  you  think  that, 
even  if  he  were  to  cure  the  child  then,  he  would  have  done  a 
noble  thing  ?  Is  it  evidence  of  a  perfect  character  to  accompany 
a  service  with  an  insult  ?  Do  jou  think  a  man  who  could  otfer 
such  an  indignity  to  a  sorrowing  mother  has  a  perfect  char- 
acter, is  an  ideal  God?  I  do  not.  And  I  hope  that  Jesus 
never  said  it.    I  prefer  to  believe  that  that  story  is  a  libel. 

It  won't  do.  We  have  either  to  give  up  the  ^^inspiration'' 
theory  of  the  Bible,  and  acknowledge  that  it  is  the  work  of  men 
of  a  crude  and  brutal  age,  and  like  any  other  book  of  legend  and 
myth  of  any  other  people ;  or  else  to  give  up  the  claim  that 
God  is  any  better  than  the  rest  of  us.    You  can  take  your  choice. 

Whenever  a  theologian  undertakes  to  explain  matters  so  as  to 
keep  the  Bible  and  the  divine  character  both  intact,  I  am  always 
remmded  of  the  story  of  the  Irishman  who  was  given  a  bed  in 
the  second  story  of  a  lodging-house  the  first  night  he  spent  in 
New  York.  In  the  night  the  fire-engines  ran  past  with  their 
frightful  noise.  Aroused  from  a  deep  sleep  and  utterly  terri- 
fied, Mike's  first  thought  was  to  get  out  of  the  house.  He  hastily 
jerked  on  the  most  important  part  of  his  costume,  unfortun- 
ately wrong  side  before,  and  jumped  out  of  the  window.  His 
friend  ran  to  the  window  and  exclaimed,  Are  ye  kilt,  Mike?" 
Picking  himself  up  and  looking  himself  over  by  the  light  of  the 


fall  from  their  masters' 


>'  table.^ 


— Matt.  XV. 


24 


Men,  Women,  and  Gods. 


street  lamp,  he  replied,  ''No,  not  kilt,  Pat,  but  I  fear  I  fatally 
twislitedJ' 

Next  we  have  God's  opinion  (on  Bible  authority)  as  to  the  use 
of  wives.  They  were  to  be  forcibly  swapped  around  as  a  pun- 
isJiment  to  their  husbands  and  for  offences  committed  by  the 
latter. 

11  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  Behold,  I  will  raise^  up  evil  against  thee 
out  of  thy  own  house,  and  I  will  take  thy  wives  before  thy  eyes  and 
give  them  unto  thy  neighbor.  — 2  Sam.  xii. 

The  latter  part  of  the  verse  is  omitted  as  being  unfit  to  read. 
Don't  understand  that  I  think  any  of  it  is  exactly  choice  litera- 
ture ;  but  that  cover  has  been  used  to  silence  objection  long 
enough.  If  it  is  fit  to  teach  as  the  word  and  will  of  God  for 
women,  it  ought  to  be  fit  to  read  in  a  theatre — but  it  is  not. 

What  do  you  think  of  a  religion  that  upholds  such  morals 
and  such  justice  as  that  just  quoted  ?  What  do  you  think  of 
women  supporting  the  Bible  in  the  face  of  that  as  the  will  of 
God  ?  Of  all  human  beings  a  woman  should  spurn  the  Bible 
first.  She,  above  all  others,  should  try  to  destroy  its  influence  ; 
and  I  mean  to  do  what  little  I  can  in  that  direction.  The  morals 
of  the  nineteenth  century  have  outgrown  the  Bible.  Jehovah 
stands  condemned  before  the  bar  of  every  noble  soul.  What 
Moses  and  David  and  Samuel  taught  as  the  word  and  will  of 
God,  we,  who  are  fortunate  enough  to  live  in  the  same  age  with 
Charles  Darwin,  know  to  be  the  expression  of  a  low  social  con- 
dition untempered  by  the  light  of  science.  Their  ^^thus  saith 
the  Lord,'"  read  in  the  light  of  to-day,  is  ^^thus  saith  ignorance 
and  fear '' — no  more,  no  less. 

If  you  will  read  the  12th  chapter  of  Leviticus,  which  is  unfit 
to  read  here,  you  will  see  that  the  Bible  esteems  it  twice  as 
great  a  crime  to  be  the  mother  of  a  girl  as  to  be  the  mother  of  a 
boy  ;  so  highly  esteemed  was  woman  by  the  priesthood  ;  so  great 
a  favorite  was  she  of  Jehovah.* 


*  See  Appendix  K. 


What  It  Teaches. 


25 


And  do  you  know  there  is  a  law  in  the  Bible*  which  '^^the 
Lord  spake  unto  Moses  that  says  if  a  man  is  jealous  of  his 
wife,  whether  he  have  cause  or  not/^  he  is  to  take  her  to  a 
priest,  and  take  a  little  barley  meal  (if  you  ever  want  to  try  it, 
remember  it  must  be  barley  meal ;  I  don^t  suppose  the  priest 
could  tell  whether  she  was  guilty  or  not  if  you  were  to  take  corn 
meal  or  hominy  grits)  and  put  it  in  the  wife's  hands.  And  the 
priest  is  to  take  some  water  and  scrape  up  the  dirt  off 

the  floor  of  the  Tabernacle,  and  put  the  dirt  in  the  water  and 
make  the  wife  drink  it.  Now  just  imagine  an  infinite  God  get- 
ting up  a  scheme  like  that  !  Then  the  priest  curses  her  and 
says  if  she  is  guilty  she  shall  rot.  .  .  .  "^^and  she  shall  say 
Amen.''  That  is  her  defence  !  Then  the  priest  takes  the  stuff 
she  has  in  her  hands — this  barley-meal  "^"^  jealousy  offering" — 
and  waves  it  before  the  Lord."  (I  suppose  you  all  know  what 
that  part  is  done  for.  If  you  don't,  ask  some  theological  student 
with  a  number  six  hat-band  ;  he'll  tell  you. )  And  then  he 
burns  a  pinch  of  it  (that  is  probably  for  luck),  and  at  this 
point  it  is  time  to  make  the  woman  drink  some  more  of  the 
filthy  water  (which  he  does  with  great  alacrity),  and  ^^if  she  be 
guilty  the  water  will  turn  bitter  within  her,"  .  .  .  ^Sand 
she  shall  be  accursed  among  her  people."  (You  doubtless 
perceive  that  her  defence  has  been  most  elaborate  throughout. ) 
Do  you  think  that  water  would  be  bitter  to  the  priest  ? 

But  if  she  does  not  complain  that  the  water  is  bitter,  and  if 
her  ^^Amen"  is  perfectly  satisfactory  all  round,  and  she  be 
pronounced  innocent,  what  then  ?  Is  the  husband  in  any  way 
reproved  for  his  brutality?  Did  the  Lord  reveal"  to  Moses 
that  he  should  drink  the  rest  of  that  holy  water  and  dirt  ?  No  ! 
That  wasn't  in  Moses'  line.  Neither  he  nor  the  husband  drink 
the  rest  of  that  water — priest  doesn't  either  ;  they  don't  even 
take  a  pinch  of  the  barley.  But  after  she  is  subjected  to  this, 
and  the  show  is  over,  '^^if  she  be  innocent,  then  shall  she  go 


*See  Numbers  v.  11-31. 


26 


Men,  Women,  and  Gods, 


free  V'  Oh,  ye  gods  !  what  magnificent  generosity  !  I  should 
have  thought  they  would  have  hanged  her  then  for  being 
innocent. 

And  then  shall  the  man  be  guiltless  of  iniquity,  and  the  woman 
shall  bear  her  iniquity." 

If  she  is  innocent  site  shall  hear  her  ijiiquity.  You  all  see 
how  that  is  done  I  suppose.  If  you  don%  ask  your  little 
number  six  theological  student^  and  he  will  tell  you  all  about 
it^  and  he  will  also  prove  to  you,  without  being  asked^  that  he 
and  God  are  capable  of  regulating  the  entire  universe  without 
the  aid  of  General  Butler. 

But  I  am  told  that  I  ought  to  respect  and  love  the  Bible  ; 
that  all  women  ought  to  take  an  active  part  in  teaching  it  to 
the  heathen,  to  show  them  how  good  Jehovah  is  to  his 
daughters.  But  if  he  is^  he  has  been  unusually  unfortunate  in 
his  choice  of  executors. 

Nor  is  it  only  in  the  Old  Testament  that  such  morals  and 
such  justice  are  taught.  The  clergy  put  that  part  off  by  saying 
— Oh,  that  was  a  different  dispensation,  and  God,  the  Un- 
changeable, has  changed  his  mind.^^  That  is  the  sole  excuse  they 
give  for  all  the  ^^holy^^  men,  who  used  to  talk  personally  with 
God,  practicing  polygamy  and  all  the  other  immoralities.  They 
maintain  that  it  was  God's  best  man  who  upheld  polygamy 
then,  and  that  it  is  the  Devil's  best  man  who  does  it  now. 
Odd  idea,  isn't  it  ?  Simply  a  question  of  time  and  place  ;  and 
as  Col.  IngersoU  says,  you  have  got  to  look  on  a  map  to  see 
whether  you  are  damned  or  not.  But  it  does  seem  to  me 
that  a  God  that  did  not  always  know  better  than  that,  is  not 
a  safe  chief  magistrate.  He  might  take  to  those  views  agfiin. 
They  say  history  is  likely  to  repeat  itself.  Anyhow,  I  wcnld 
rather  be  on  the  safe  side  and  just  fix  the  laws  so  that  he  couldn't. 
It  would  be  just  as  well. 


Fro7n  Moses  to  Paid, 


27 


FROM  MOSES  TO  PAUL, 

But  now  we  have  come  to  St/^  Paul  and  his  ideas  on  the 
woman  question.  He  worked  the  whole  problem  by  simple 
proportion  and  found  that  man  stands  in  the  same  relation 
to  woman  as  God  stands  to  man.  That  is^  man  is  to  woman  as 
God  is  to  man — and  only  a  slight  remainder.  I'm  not  going 
to  misrepresent  this  gifted  saint.  I  shall  let  him  speak  for 
himself.  He  does  it  pretty  well  for  a  saint^  and  much  more 
plainly  than  they  usually  do. 

22  Wives,  submit  yourselves  unto  your  own  husbands,  as  unto  the 
Lord. 

23  For  the  husband  is  the  head  of  the  wife,  even  as  Christ  is  the 
head  of  the  church :  and  he  is  the  saviour  of  the  body. 

—  Ephesians  v. 

The  husband  is  the  saviour  of  the  wife  !  Pretty  slim  hold 
on  heaven  for  most  women^,  isn't  it?  And  then  suppose  she 
hasn't  any  husband  ?   Her  case  is  fatal. 

24  Therefore  as  the  church  is  subject  unto  Christ,  so  let  the  wives 
he  to  their  own  husbands  in  everything.  —  Ephesians  v. 

Paul  was  a  modest  person  in  his  requirements. 

9  In  like  manner  also,  that  women  adorn  themselves  in  modest 
apparel,  witii  shamefacedness  and  sobriety ;  not  with  braided  hair, 
or  gold,  or  pearls,  or  costly  array.  —  1  Timothy  ii. 

It  does  seem  as  if  anybody  would  know  that  braided  hair  . 
was  wicked  ;  and  as  to  ^^gold  and  pearls  and  costly  array/'  all 
you  have  to  do  to  prove  the  infallibility  of  Paul — and  what 
absolute  faith  Christians  have  in  it ! — is  to  go  into  any  fashion- 
able church  and  observe  the  absence  of  all  such  sinfulness  : 

10  But  (which  becometh  women  professing  godliness)  with  good 
works. 

11  Let  the  woman  learn  in  silence  ivith  all  subjection, 

12  But  I  suffer  not  a  woman  to  teach,  nor  to  usurp  authority  over 
the  man,  but  to  be  in  silence. 


28 


Men,  Women,  and  Gods. 


13  For  Adam  was  first  formed,  then  Eve. 

14  And  Adam  was  not  deceived,  hut  the  woman  being  deceived 
was  in  the  transgression.  —  1  Timothy  ii. 

According  to  the  reasoning  of  verse  13  man  should  be  sub- 
ject to  all  the  lower  animals,  because  they  were  first  formed, 
and  then  Adam.  Verse  14  tells  us  that  Adam  sinned 
knowingly  ;  Eve  was  deceived,  so  she  deserves  punishment. 
Now  I  like  that.  If  you  commit  a  crime  understandingly  it  is 
all  right.  If  you  are  deceived  into  doing  it  you  ought  to  be 
damned.  The  law  says,  ''The  criminality  of  an  act  resides 
in  the  intent  f  but  more  than  likely  St.  Paul  was  not  up  in 
Blackstone  and  did  not  use  Coke. 

This  next  is  St.  Peter,  and  I  believe  this  is  one  of  the  few 
topics  upon  which  the  infallible  Peter  and  the  equally  infallible 
Paul  did  not  disagree  : 

Likewise,  ye  wives,  he  in  subjection  to  your  own  husbands ;  that, 
if  any  obey  not  the  word,  they  also  may  without  the  word  be  won  by 
the  conversation  of  the  wives  ; 

2  While  they  behold  your  chaste  conversation  coupled  with  fear. 

—  1  Peter  iii. 

I  should  think  that  would  be  a  winning  card.  If  the  con- 
versation of  a  wife,  coupled  with  a  good  deal  of  fear,  would 
not  convert  a  man,  he  is  a  hopeless  case. 

But  here  is  Paul  again,  in  all  his  mathematical  glory,  and 
mortally  afraid  that  women  won^t  do  themselves  honor. 

3  But  I  would  have  you  know,  that  the  head  of  every  man  is 
Christ ;  and  the  head  of  the  woman  is  the  man;  and  the  head  of 
Christ  is  God. 

4  Every  man  praying  or  prophesying,  having  his  head  covered, 
dishonoreth  his  head. 

5  But  every  woman  that  prayeth  or  prophosieth  with  her  head 
uncovered,  dishonoreth  her  head ;  for  that  is  even  all  one  as  if  she 
were  shaven. 

6  For  if  the  woman  be  not  covered,  let  her  also  be  shorn  :  but  if  it 
be  a  shame  for  a  woman  to  be  shorn  or  shaven,  let  her  be  covered. 


From  Moses  to  Paul. 


29 


7  For  a  man  indeed  ought  not  to  cover  Ms  head,  forasmuch  as  he 
is  the  image  and  glory  of  God :  but  the  woman  is  the  glory  of  the 
man  : 

8  For  the  man  is  not  of  the  woman,  but  the  woman  of  the  man. 

9  Neither  ivas  the  man  created  for  the  woman,  but  the  woman  for 
the  man,  — 1  Cor.  xi. 

And  that  settles  it,  I  suppose.  But  what  on  earth  was  man 
created  for  ?  I  should  not  think  it  could  have  been  just  for 
fun. 

34  Let  your  women  keep  silence  in  the  churches ;  for  it  is  not  per- 
mitted unto  them  to  speak  ;  but  they  are  commanded  to  be  under 
obedience,  as  also  saith  the  law. 

35  And  if  they  will  learn  anything,  let  them  ask  their  husbands  at 
home  :  for  it  is  a  shame  for  women  to  speak  in  the  church. 

— 1  Cor.  xiv. 

That  is  a  principle  that  should  entitle  St.  Paul  to  the  pro- 
found admiration  of  women.  And  yet,  when  I  come  to  think 
of  it,  I  don^t  know  which  one  gets  the  worst  of  that  either. 
Whenever  you  want  to  know  miy tiling,  ask  your  husband,  at 
home  !  No  wonder  most  husbands  don^t  have  time  to  stay  at 
home  much.  No  wonder  they  have  to  see  a  man  so  often.  It 
would  unseat  any  man^s  reason  if  he  lived  in  constant  fear 
that  he  might,  any  minute,  be  required  to  explain  to  a  woman 
of  sense,  how  death  could  have  been  brought  into  this  world 
by  Eve,  when  every  one  knows  that  long  before  man  could 
have  lived  upon  this  earth  animals  lived  and  died.  It  would 
make  any  man  remember  that  he  had  to  catch  a  car  if  he 
were  asked  suddenly  to  explain  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  I 
would  not  blame  the  most  sturdy  theologian  for  remembering 
that  it  was  club  night,  if  his  wife  were  to  ask  him,  unex- 
pectedly, how  Nebuchadnezzar,  with  his  inexperience,  could 
digest  grass  with  only  one  stomach,  when  it  takes  four  for  the 
oxen  that  are  used  to  it.  That  may  account,  however,  for  his 
hair  turning  to  feathers. 

I  don't  believe  St.  Paul  could  have  realized  what  a  diaboli- 


30 


Men,  Women,  and  Gods. 


cal  position  lie  was  placing  husbands  in^  when  he  told  wives  to 
ask  them  every  time  they  wanted  to  know  anything  —  unless 
he  wanted  to  make  marriage  unpopular.  There  is  one  thing 
certain,  he  was  careful  not  to  try  it  himself^,  which  looks  much 
as  if  he  had  some  realizing  sense  of  what  he  had  cut  out  for 
husbands  to  do,  and  felt  that  there  were  some  men  who  would 
rather  be  drafted — and  then  send  a  substitute. 

But  why  are  his  commands  not  followed  to-day  ?  Why  are 
not  the  words,  sister,  mother,  daughter,  wife,  only  names  for 
degradation  and  dishonor  ? 

Because  men  have  grown  more  honorable  than  their  re- 
ligion, and  the  strong  arm  of  the  law,  supported  by  the 
stronger  arm  of  public  sentiment,  demands  greater  justice  than 
St.  Paul  ever  dreamed  of.  Because  men  are  growing  grand 
enough  to  recognize  the  fact  that  right  is  not  masculine  only, 
and  that  justice  knows  no  sex.  And  because  the  Church  no 
longer  makes  the  laws.  Saints  have  been  retired  from  the 
legal  profession.  I  can^t  recall  the  name  of  a  single  one  who  is 
practicing  law  now.  Have  any  of  you  ever  met  a  saint  at  the 
bar? 

Wo>nen  are  indebted  to-day  for  their  emancipation  from  a 
position  of  hopeless  degradation,  not  to  their  religio;i  nor  to 
Jehovah,  but  to  the  justice  and  honor  of  the  men  who  have 
defied  his  commands.  That  she  does  not  crouch  to-day  where 
Saint  Paul  tried  to  bind  her,  she  owes  to  the  men  who  are 
grand  and  brave  enough  to  ignore  St.  Paul,  and  rise  superior  to 
his  God. 

And  remember  that  I  have  not  read  you  the  worst  stories  of 
the  Bible.  The  greater  number  of  those  which  refer  to  women 
are  wholly  unfit  to  read  here.  Are  you  willing  to  think  they 
are  the  word  of  God  ?  I  am  not.  Believe  in  a  God  if  you  will, 
but  do  not  degrade  him  by  accepting  an  interpretation  of  him 
that  would  do  injustice  to  Mepliistopheles  !  Have  a  religion  if 
you  desire,  but  demand  that  it  be  free  from  impurity  and  lies, 
and  that  it  be  just.    Exercise  faith  if  you  must,  but  temper 


From  Moses  to  Paul, 


31 


it  wisely  with  reason.  Do  not  allow  ministers  to  tell  you 
stories  that  are  sillier  than  fairy  tales^  more  brutal  than  bar- 
baric warfare^  and  too  unclean  to  be  read,  and  then  assure  you 
that  they  are  the  word  of  God.  Use  your  reason ;  and 
when  you  are  told  that  God  came  down  and  talked  to  Moses 
behind  a  bush,  and  told  him  to  murder  several  thousand  inno- 
cent people  ;  when  you  are  told  that  he  created  a  vast  universe 
and  filled  it  with  people  upon  all  of  whom  he  placed  a  never- 
ending  curse  because  of  a  trivial  disobedience  of  one  ;  give  him 
the  benefit  of  a  reasonable  doubt  and  save  your  reputation  for 
slander. 

Now  just  stop  and  think  about  it.  Don^t  you  think  that  if 
a  God  had  come  down  and  talked  to  Moses  he  would  have 
had  something  more  important  to  discuss  than  the  arrange- 
ment of  window  curtains  and  the  cooking  of  a  sheep  ?  Since 
Moses  was  the  leader  of  God's  people,  their  lawgiver,  the 
guardian  of  their  morals,  don't  you  think  that  the  few 
minutes  of  conversation  could  have  been  better  spent  in  calling 
attention  to  some  of  the  little  moral  delinquencies  of  Moses 
himself?  Don't  you  think  it  would  have  been  more  natural 
for  an  infinite  and  just  ruler  to  have  mentioned  the  impro- 
priety of  murdering  so  many  men,  and  degrading  so  many 
young  girls  to  a  life  worse  than  that  of  the  vilest  quarter  of 
any  infamous  dive,  than  to  have  occupied  the  time  in  trivial 
details  about  a  trumpery  jewel-box?  Since  God  elected  such 
a  man  as  Moses  to  guide  and  govern  his  people,  does  it  not  seem 
natural  that  he  would  have  given  more  thought  to  the  moral 
worth  and  practices  of  Ms  representative  on  earth,  than  to  the 
particular  age  at  which  to  kill  a  calf?  If  he  were  going  to 
take  the  trouble  to  say  anything,  would  it  not  seem  more 
natural  that  he  should  say  something  important  ? 

In  his  numerous  chats  with  Solomon,  don't  you  think  he 
could  have  added  somewhat  to  that  gentleman's  phenomenal 
wisdom  by  just  hinting  to  him  that  he  had  a  few  more  wives 
than  were  absolutely  necessary  ?    He  had  a  thousand  we  are 


32 


Me7i,  Women,  and  Gods. 


told,  which  leaves  Brigliam  Young  away  behind.  Yet  there 
are  Christians  to-day  who  teach  their  children  that  Solomon  was 
the  wisest  man  who  ever  lived,  and  that  Brigliam  Ycung  was 
very  close  to  the  biggest  fool.  It  is  not  strange  that  some  of 
these  children  infer  that  the  trouble  with  Brigham  was  that  he 
had  not  wives  enough,  and  that  if  he  had  only  married  the 
whole  state  of  Massachusetts  he  and  Solomon  would  now 
occupy  adjoining  seats  on  the  other  shore,  and  use  the  same 
jew^s-harp  ? 

Do  you  believe  for  one  moment  that  a  God  ever  talked  with 
any  man  and  told  him  to  murder  a  whole  nation  of  men,  to 
steal  their  property,  to  butcher  in  cold  blood  the  mothers, 
and  to  give  the  young  girls  to  a  camp  of  brutal  soldiers — and 
that  he  lieljoed  to  do  it  ?  Do  you  believe  any  God  ever  told  a 
man  to  give  so  many  of  those  girls  to  one  tribe,  so  many  to 
another,  and  to  burn  so  many  as  an  offering  to  himself  ?  Do 
you  believe  it  ?  I  don^t.  Would  you  worship  him  if  he  had  ? 
I  would  not. 

And  yet  it  is  true  that  he  did  help  in  such  work,  or  else  the 
word  of  Moses  is  not  worth  a  nickel.  God  did  this,  or  else  our 
religion  is  founded  upon  a  fraud.  He  did  it,  or  orthodoxy  is  a 
mistake.  He  did  it,  or  the  Bible  is  an  imposition.  If  it  is 
true,  no  woman  should  submit  to  such  a  fiend  for  an  hour  ; 
if  it  is  false,  let  her  unclasp  the  clutches  of  the  superstition 
which  is  built  upon  her  dishonor  and  nourished  by  her  hand. 

They  say  it  is  a  shame  for  a  woman  to  attack  the  Bible.  I 
say  she  is  the  one  who  should  do  it.  It  is  she  who  has  every- 
thing to  gain  by  its  overthrow.  It  is  she  who  has  everything 
to  lose  by  its  support.  They  tell  me  it  is  the  word  and  will 
of  God.  I  do  not,  I  cannot,  believe  it !  And  it  does  seem  to 
me  that  nothing  but  lack  of  moral  perception  or  mental  capacity 
could  enable  any  human  being  who  was  honest  (and  not  scared) 
to  either  respect  or  believe  in  such  a  God. 

As  a  collection  of  ingenious  stories,  as  a  record  of  folly  and 
wickedness,  as  a  curious  and  valuable  old  literary  work,  keep 


The  Fruit  of  the  Tree  of  Knoidedge. 


33 


the  Bible  in  the  library.  But  put  it  on  the  top  shelf — or  just 
behind  it,  and  don't  let  the  children  see  it  until  they  are  old 
enough  to  read  it  with  discrimination.  As  a  mythological  work 
it  is  no  worse  than  several  others.  As  a  divine  revelation  it  is 
simply  monstrous. 

Among  your  other  tales  you  might  tell  the  children  some 
from  it.  You  might  tell  them  that  at  one  time  a  man  got 
mad  at  another  man,  and  caught  three  hundred  foxes,  and 
set  fire  to  their  tails  (they  standing  still  the  while),  and  then 
turned  them  loose  into  the  other  man's  corn,  and  burned  it 
all  up.  If  they  don't  know  much  about  foxes,  and  have 
never  experimented  in  burning  live  hair,  they  may  think  it 
is  a  pretty  good  story.  But  I  would  not  tell  them  that  the 
man  who  got  up  that  torch-light  procession  was  a  good  man. 
I  would  not  tell  them  that  he  was  one  of  God's  most  intimate 
friends  ;  because  even  if  they  think  he  had  a  right  to  burn  his 
enemy's  crops,  I  don't  believe  that  any  right-minded  child 
would  think  it  was  fair  to  the  foxes. 

THE  FRUIT  OF  THE  TREE  OF  KNOWLEDGE. 

Some  time  ago  I  went  to  hear  a  noted  minister,  who  preached 
a  sermon  about  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowledge"  to  a 
congregation  composed,  as  most  congregations  are,  chiefly  of 
women.  Yet  his  sermon  was  a  monument  of  insult,  bigotry, 
and  dogmatic  intolerance  that  would  have  done  honor  to  a 
witch-hunter  several  centuries  ago.  That  women  will  sub- 
ject themselves  to  such  insults  week  after  week,  and  that 
there  are  still  men  who  will  condescend  to  offer  them,  is  a 
sad  commentary  upon  their  self-respect  as  well  as  upon  the 
degrading  influence  of  their  religion. 

Why  will  they  listen  to  such  nonsense  ?  Perhaps  woman  was 
made  of  a  rib  and  so  should  be  held  as  flesh  and  blood  only, 
devoid  of  intellect.  But  I  don't  know  that  she  was  ;  I  was  not 
there  to  see,  and,  in  fact,  none  of  my  family  were ;  and  since 
they  tell  us  that  the  only  gentleman  present  upon  that  interesting 


34 


Men,  Women,  and  Gods, 


occasion  was  asleep,  I  don't  know  who  could  have  told  the  story 
in  the  first  place. 

It  is  always  a  surprise  to  me  that  women  will  sit,  year  after 
year,  and  be  told  that,  because  of  a  story  as  silly  and  childish  as 
it  is  unjust,  she  is  responsible  for  all  the  ills  of  life ;  that  be- 
cause, forsooth,  some  thousands  of  years  ago  a  woman  was  so 
horribly  wicked  as  to  eat  an  apple,  she  must  and  should  occupy 
a  humble  and  penitent  position,  and  remain  forever  subject 
to  the  dictates  of  ecclesiastical  pretenders.  It  is  so  silly,  so 
childish,  that  4  for  people  of  sense  to  accept  it  seems  almost 
incredible. 

According  to  the  story,  she  was  deceived.  According  to  the 
story,  she  believed  that  she  was  doing  a  thing  which  would  give 
greater  knowledge  and  a  broader  life,  and  she  had  the  courage 
to  try  for  it.  According  to  the  story,  she  first  evinced  the  desire  to 
be  more  and  wiser  than  a  mere  brute,  and  incidentally  gave  her 
husband  an  opportunity  to  invent  the  first  human  lie  (a  privi- 
lege still  dear  to  the  heart),  a  field  which  up  to  that  time  had 
been  exclusively  worked  by  the  reptiles.  Buil(  they  nev^r  got  a 
chance  at  it  again.  From  the  time  that  Adam  entered  the  lists, 
competition  was  too  lively  for  any  of  the  lower  animals  to  stapd 
a  ghost  of  a  chance  at  it,  and  that  may  account  for  the  fact 
that,  from  that  time  to  this,  nobody  has  ever  heard  a  snake  tell 
a  lie  or  volunteer  information  to  a  woman.  The  Church  has 
had  a  monopoly  of  these  profitable  perquisites  ever  since.  The 
serpent  never  tried  it  again.  He  turned  woman  over  to 
the  clergy,  and  from  that  time  to  this  they  have  been  the  in- 
structors who  have,  told  her  which  apple  to  bite,  and  how  big  a 
bite  to  take.  She.  has  never  had  a  chance  since  to  change  her 
diet.  From  that  day  to  this  she  has  had  apple  pie,  stewed 
apple,  dried  apple,  baked  apple,  apple-jack,  and  cider ;  and 
this  clergyman  that  I  ^hea.rd,  started  out  fresh  oji  apple-sauce. 
He  seemed  to  think — anything  for  a  change. Yoji  would 
have  thought,  to  hear  him,  that  the  very  worst  thing  that  ever 
happened  to  this  world  was  the  bi]:th  of  the  desire  for  knowl- 

if 


The  Fruit  of  tlie  Tree  of  Knowledge. 


35 


edge^  and  that  such  desire  in  woman  had  been  the  curse  of  all 
mankind. 

But  it  seems  to  me  that  if  in  this  day  of  intelligence  a  min- 
ister preaches  or  acts  upon  such  dogmas^  women  should  scorn 
him  both  as  a  teacher  and  as  a  man.  If  a  creed  or  Church 
upholds  such  doctrines  they  should  shun  it  as  they  would  a 
pest-house.  If  any  system  or  any  book  of  religion  teaches  such 
.  principles  they  should  exert  every  effort  to  utterly  destroy  its 
influence.  I  want  to  do  what  I  can  to  show  women  that  the 
mercury  of  self-respect  must  fall  several  degrees  at  the  church 
door,  and  that  the  light  of  reason  must  go  out. 

In  this  sermon  that  I  speak  of,  we  were  warned  ^^not  to  be 
wise  above  that  which  is  written.  ^^  As  if  a  man  should  bind 
his  thoughts  and  knowledge  down  to  what  was  known,  believed, 
or  written  in  ages  past !  As  though  a  man  should  fear  and 
tremble,  should  hesitate  to  reach  out  after,  to  labor  to  know, 
all  that  his  intellect  and  energy  can  compass.  As  though  to 
be  good  he  must  accept  situations,  sentiments,  ideas  ready- 
made,  and  dwarf  his  intellect  and  bind  his  mental  ability  by 
the  capacity  of  somebody  else. 

He  that  hath  ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear.^^ 
He  that  hath  eyes  to  see,  let  him  see.^^ 

And  he  that  hath  a  brain  to  think,  let  him  think.  What  is 
his  intellect  for  ?  Why  is  his  mind  one  vast  interrogation 
point  ?  Why  should  not  Eve  have  grasped  with  eagerness  the 
fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  ? 

A  taste  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  does  drive  man 
from  the  paradise  of  ignorance,  does  send  him  forth  a  laborer 
in  the  vast  fields  of  speculation  and  thought,  where  there  is  no 
rest,  and  no  possibility  of  the  cessation  of  labor  so  long  as  his 
energies  and  his  love  of  truth  remain  to  impel  him  to  the  con- 
quest of  the  infinite  domain  that  lies  unexplored  beyond. 

But  would  any  man  sell  what  is  gained  in  liberty,  in  strength, 
in  breadth,  in  conscious  superiority,  for  the  delights  which 
pvery  brute  has  left  him  in  his  stagnant  paradise  of  ignorance  and 


36 


Men,  Women,  and  Gods. 


rest  ?  AVhat  man  in  this  nineteenth  century  can  unblushingly 
say  he  would  not  choose  the  labor  with  all  its  pain,  the  pffort 
with  all  its  failure,  the  struggle  with  all  its  exhaustion  ?  Why 
try  to  bind  the  human  mind  by  the  silly  theory  that  a  God 
requires  man  to  crush  out  or  subject  the  intellect  he  has  given 
him  ?  Whatever  religion  may  have  gained  by  such  a  course, 
think  what  morality  and  progress  have  lost  by  it ! 

What  has  not  woman  lost  by  that  silly  fable  which  made  her 
responsible  for  transgression  ?  Honor  her  for  it !  Honor  her 
the  more  if  it  was  she  who  first  dared  the  struggle  rather  than 
lose  her  freedom  or  crush  her  reason.  If  she  learned  first  that 
the  price  of  ignorance  and  slavery  was  too  great  to  pay  for  the 
luxury  of  idleness — honor  her  for  it.  The  acceptance  of  such 
contemptible  stories,  as  told  by  the  clergy  in  all  ages  and  in  all 
religions  as  the  ^^word  of  God,^^  has  done  more  to  enslave  and 
injure  women^s  intellects,  and  to  brutalize  men,  than  has  been 
done  by  any  other  influence  ;  and  our  boasted  superior  civiliza- 
tion is  not  the  result  of  the  Christian  religion,  but  has  been  won 
step  by  step  in  despite  of  it.*  For  the  Church  has  fought 
progress  with  a  vindictive  bitterness  and  power  found  in  no 
other  antagonist -  - from  the  time,  long  ago,  when  it  crushed 
Galileo  for  daring  to  know  more  than  its  inspired  leaders 
could  ever  learn,  down  to  yesterday,  w^hen  it  raised  a  wild  howl 
against  Prof.  Tyndall  for  making  a  simple  statement,  in  itself 
absolutely  incontrovertible. 

It  had  to  yield  to  Galileo  as  the  people  grew  beyond  its 
power  to  blind  them  to  his  truth.  It  is  yielding  every  hour 
to-day  to  Tyndall  from  the  same  dire  necessity  ;  while  its  nimble 
devotees  vie  with  each  other  in  proclaiming  that  they  thought 
that  way  all  the  time  ;  had  neglected  to  say  so  (through  an 
oversight) ;  but  that  it  was  one  of  their  very  strongest  holds 
from  the  beginning.  They  have  recently  told  us  that  modern 
scientific  doctrines  (evolution  included)  are    plainly  indicated 


*See  Lecture  3,    Theological  Fictions." 


The  Fruit  of  the  Tree  of  Knowledge. 


37 


in  the  Bible/^  and  that  Science  has  at  last  worked  up  towards 
the  comprehension  of  scriptural  truths. 

It  used  to  be  the  fashion  to  burn  the  man  who  got  up  a  new 
theory  or  discovered  a  new  law  of  nature  that  interfered  with 
the  '^'^  revelation  theory  ;  but  the  style  now  is  to  go  into  the 
mental  gymnastic  business  and  reconcile  the  old  dogma 
with  the  new  truth.  The  only  kind  of  reconciling  the  Church 
ever  thought  of  in  the  days  of  her  power^  was  to  become  recon- 
ciled to  the  death  of  the  scientist  or  thinker.  To-day  she  can 
take  evolution  and  revelation^,  shake  them  up  in  a  theological 
bag,  and  then  bring  them  forth  so  marvellously  alike  in  appear- 
ance that  their  own  father  would  not  know  them  apart.  And 
the  rest  of  us  can^t  recognize  them  at  all. 

To-morroW;,  when  she  has  to  yield  her  whole  field  to  science, 
she  will  hasten  to  assure  us  that  it  was  only  a  few  mistaken 
souls  who  ever  objected  to  Col.  Ingersoll's  style  of  theology ; 
and  that  if  we  would  only  interpret  the  Bible  aright  (and 
understood  Hebrew)  we  should  at  once  discover  that  Col. 
Ingersoll  was  the    biggest  card^^  they  had  had  yet. 

You  may  not  live  until  that  to-morrow ;  I  may  not  live  until 
that  to-morrow ;  but  it  is  as  sure  to  come  as  it  is  certain  that 
the  old  tenets  have  yielded  one  by  one  before  the  irresistible 
march  of  an  age  of  intelligence  and  freedom,  in  which  a  priest 
or  a  Church  can  no  longer  be  judge,  jury,  and  counsel. 

Not  long  ago  I  heard  two  gentlemen — one  a  very  devout 
Christian — talking  about  what  use  the  Church  could  make  of 
Col.  IngersolFs  teachings.  One  said  he  Avas  such  a  moral  man, 
and  always  insisted  so  strongly  upon  right  action  in  this  world, 
that  it  was  a  pity  he  did  not  have  more  faith.  He  said, 
^'  What  a  power  he  would  be  in  the  Church  !  What  a  preacher 
he  would  make  !  He  would  be  a  second  St.  Paul — I  have 
been  praying  for  years  for  his  conversion.^^  Well,^^  said  the 
other,  ^^you  needn^t  waste  your  time  any  longer  ;  softening  of 
the  brain  doesn't  run  in  Kobert's  family/^ 


38 


Men,  Women,  and  Gods, 


KNOWLEDGE  NOT  A  CRIME. 

Let  man  rid  himself  of  the  pernicious  idea  that  knowledge  is 
a  crime^  and  then  let  only  the  man  who  is  afraid  to  enter  the 
world  of  thought  go  back  to  his  native  paradise  of  ignorance 
and  rest.  Let  him  cling  to  his  old  ideas.  Humanity  can  do 
better  without  such  a  man^  and  humanity  wdll  he  better  without 
him.  The  time  is  past  when  his  type  is  needed^  and  let  us 
hope  that  it  is  nearly  past  when  it  can  be  found.  He  may 
have  been  abreast  of  the  time  in  1840^  but  his  grave  was  dug, 
his  epitaph  written,  in  1841.  Science  did  not  wait  for  him, 
and  the  world  forgot  his  name  ! 

Do  you  think  the  world  has  any  farther  use  for  the  man  who 
can  gravely  tell  those  stories  about  Samson,  for  instance,  as 
truth — as  the  word  of  God  ?  Do  you  think  they  do  honor  to 
the  most  attenuated  intellect?  Now  just  stop  and  think  of  it. 
Just  think  of  one  thousand  able-bodied  men  (1,000  is  a  good 
many  men)  quietly  standing  around  waiting  for  Sampson  to 
knock  them  on  the  head  with  a  bone  !  And  how  does  the  dura- 
bility of  that  bone  strike  you  ? 

If  prowess  with  arms  were  estimated,  I  should  say  that  was 
about  the  most  effective  piece  of  generalship  on  record.  If 
the  gentleman  who  conducted  that  neat  little  skirmish  were 
living  to-day  there  would  not  be  a  question  as  to  his  eligibility 
for  a  third  term,  unit  rule  or  no  unit  rule.  If  we  could 
provide  our  generals  with  a  bone  like  that,  we  might  reduce 
the  standing  army  sufficiently  to  reassure  the  most  timid  con- 
gressman of  the  whole  lot.  It  would  not  take  more  than  four 
or  five  generals  and  a  captain  to  guard  the  whole  frontier. 
Then  we  might  keep  a  private  to  keep  the  peace  at  the  polls, 
and  that  would  give  us  sufficient  force  to  readily  murder  several 
thousand  people  any  morning  before  breakfast,  and  I  don^t  sec 
how  you  could  ask  for  anything  better  than  that.  Two  live 
men  and  one  dead  mule  could  raise  a  siege  in  a  quarter  of  an 
hour.     Now,  if  there  is  anybody  who  wants  to  start  ^^a 


Knoivledge  Not  a  Crime. 


39 


brilliant  foreign  policy/'  here  is  his  chance.  He  could  at  the 
same  time  make  a  record  for  economy,  for  it  would  be  an 
enormous  saving  to  this  country  in  arms  and  ammunition  alone. 
For  durability,  cheapness,  and  certainty  not  to  miss  fire  there 
is  simply  no  comparison  at  all. 

It  may  be  objected  that  our  soldiers  are  not  so  strong  as 
Samson  ;  but  I  am  told  by  those  who  are  intimately  ac- 
quainted with  mules,  that  they  have  not  deteriorated.  They 
have  simply  transferred  their  superior  strength  and  durability 
from  their  jaw-bones  to  their  heels — and  they  engineer  them 
themselves.  So  if  our  men  can  stand  his  voice  and  aim  Mm 
right,  they  won't  have  to  wear  long  hair. 

But  seriously,  if  it  is  necessary  to  believe  such  stories  as 
that  in  order  to  go  to  heaven,  don^t  you  think  the  admission 
fee  is  a  trifle  high  ?  It  is  entirely  beyond  my  means,  and  that 
is  not  one  of  the  big  stories  either. 

The  one  that  comes  right  after  it  is  just  as  absurd.  It  is  the 
second  scene  of  the  same  performance,  and  Samson  only  went 
out  between  acts  for  a  drink,  and  then  he  playfully  walked  off 
with  a  building  about  the  size  of  the  capitol  at  Washington. 

They  say  we  must  believe  these  tales  or  be  damned ;  and 
that  a  woman  has  not  even  a  right  to  say,  I  object.''  But  it 
always  did  seem  to  me  that  anybody  who  could  believe  them 
would  not  have  brains  enough  to  know  whether  he  was  damned 
or  not.  They  say  we  must  not  laugh  at  such  very  solemn 
things  as  that.  They  also  say  that  even  if  we  don't  believe 
them  ourselves  we  should  show  respect  for  those  who  do. 

That  is  a  very  good  theory^  but  I  should  like  to  know  how 
any  human  being  with  a  sense  of  humor  could  sit  and  look 
solemn,  and  feel  very  respectful,  with  that  sort  of  chaff  rattling 
down  his  back.  It  can't  be  done  unless  he  is  scared.  Fear 
will  convince  a  man  the  quickest  of  anything  on  earth.  Even 
a  shadow  is  provocative  of  solemnity  if  the  night  is  dark 
enough  and  the  man  is  sufficiently  scared. 

Ignorance  and  Fear  made  the  Garden  of  Eden,  they  created 


40 


Men,  Women,  and  Gods. 


Jehovah,  gave  Samson  his  wonderful  strength,  and  Solomon 
his  wisdom  ;  they  divided  the  Ked  Sea,  and  raised  Lazarus  from 
the  dead.  It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  they  have  com- 
pelled women  to  cling  to  the  Church,  and  slaves  to  cling  to 
slavery.  There  were  many  black  men  in  the  South  who  volun- 
tarily went  back  and  offered  to  remain  in  bondage.  And  that 
is  one  of  the  strongest  arguments  against  the  institution  of 
slavery — that  it  can  so  far  degrade  its  victims  that  they  lose 
even  the  ambition  to  be  free  !  * 

The  time  is  not  far  distant  when  a  bondage  of  the  intellect 
to  the  Church  will  receive  no  more  respectful  consideration 
than  a  bondage  of  the  body  to  a  master.  This  nineteenth 
century  cannot  much  longer  be  bound  by  the  ignorance  and 
intolerance  of  an  age  when  might  was  the  highest  law  and 
force  the  only  appeal.  We  need  to  recognize  that  the  broadest 
possible  liberty  is  the  greatest  possible  good  ;  and  that  the 
liberty  to  think  is  the  highest  good  of  all.  So  don't  let 
people  make  you  afraid  to  think,  or  to  laugh  at  nonsense 
wherever  you  see  it. 

Solomon  saying  it  cannot  make  a  silly  thing  wise,  nor  Moses 
doing  it  a  cruel  thing  kind.  David  cannot  make  brutality 
gentle,  nor  Paul  injustice  just ;  and  that  the  Bible  sustains  a 
wrong  can  never  make  it  right. 

*  ''It  was  quite  an  ordinary  fact  in  Greece  and  Rome  for  slaves  to 
submit  to  death  by  torture  rather  than  betray  their  masters.  Yet 
we  know  how  cruelly  many  Romans  treated  their  slaves.  But  in 
trvith  these  intense  individual  feeUngs  nowhere  rise  to  such  a  luxuriant 
height  as  under  the  most  atrocious  institutions.  It  is  part  of  the 
irony  of  life,  that  the  strongest  feelings  of  devoted  gratitude  of  which 
human  nature  seems  susceptible,  are  called  forth  in  human  beings 
toward  those  who,  having  the  power  entirely  to  crush  their  earthly  ex- 
istence, voluntarily  refrain  from  using  that  power.  How  great  a  place 
in  most  men  this  sentiment  fills,  even  in  religious  devotion,  it  would 
be  cruel  to  inquire.  We  daily  see  how  much  their  gratitude  to  Heaven 
appears  to  be  stimulated  by  the  contemplation  of  fellow-creatures  to 
whom  God  has  not  been  so  merciful  as  he  has  to  themselves,'' — Mill, 


Knoivledge  Not  a  Crime, 


41 


Don^t  you  know  that  if  the  leading  men  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment were  living  to-day,  they  would  be  known  as  liars,  thieves, 
and  murderers — some  indeed  as  monsters  to  whom  even  these 
terms  would  be  base  flattery.  Despoilers  of  those  who  had 
not  injured  them  ;  infamous  liars  in  the  name  of  God  ;  mur- 
derers of  men  ;  butchers  of  children  ;  debauchers  of  women  ; 
if  they  were  living  in  the  nineteenth  century  they  would  be 
unanimously  elected  to  the  gallows — that  is  if  they  escaped 
Judge  Lynch  long  enough.  And  yet  they  are  held  up  to  us, 
who  have  outgrown  their  morals,  as  authorities  on  the  subject 
of  God^s  will  to  man,  as  Prophets,  Saints,  Mediators  ! 

Do  you  want  your  children  taught  to  believe  in  the  purity 
and  honor  of  such  men  ?  Do  you  want  your  children  taught 
to  worship  a  God  who  sanctioned,  commanded,  and  gloried 
(and  usually  participated)  in  their  worst  crimes  ?  Do  you 
want  them  to  believe  that  at  any  time,  in  any  age,  a  God 
was  the  director  in  the  most  heinous  crimes,  in  the  vilest 
plots,  in  the  most  cruel,  vulgar,  cowardly  acts  of  vice  that 
were  ever  recorded  ?  Either  he  was  or  else  Moses^  word  is 
not  worth  a  copper,  and  theology  is  the  invention  of  ignor- 
ance. He  did  these  hideous  things  or  the  Bible  is  mistaken 
about  it.  There  is  to-day  that  kind  of  a  God  somewhere  in 
space  waiting  around  to  pounce  on  anybody  who  doesn't  ad- 
mire him,  or  else  the  Church  is  founded  upon  the  ignorance 
and  fear  of  its  dupes,  and  teaches  them  what  is  not  true. 

They  say  it  is  wicked  to  inquire  into  the  facts.  I  say  it 
is  wrong  not  to.  It  seems  to  me  that  in  a  matter  like  this  the 
most  important  thing  is  to  be  honest  all  round,  and  that 
if  the  claims  of  the  Church  are  true  no  inquiry  can  injure 
thom.  They  say,  ^^Oh,  well,  drop  all  the  bad  part,  and 
only  take  the  good.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  good  in  it  too.'' 
But  if  I  don't  know  what  is  good  myself  I  won't  go  to  Moses 
and  that  class  of  men  to  find  out.  I'll  go  to  somebody  who 
has  got  a  clean  record.  I  won't  go  to  men  who  robbed  and 
murdered  in  the  name  of  God ;  I  won't  go  to  men  who  bought 


42 


Men,  Women,  and  Gods. 


and  sold  their  fellow-men ;  I  won^t  go  to  men  who  gave  their 
own  daughters  over  to  the  hate  and  lust  of  others^  even 
bargaining  for  them  with  sons  and  brothers.  Such  men  can- 
not tell  me  what  is  good.  Such  men  cannot  make  a  religion 
for  me  to  live  by,  or  a  God  that  I  can  accept. 

I  am  sometimes  told  that  intelligent  ministers  nowadays 
do  not  believe  in  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible,  and  do  not 
teach  it.  Yet  every  minister  who,  like  the  Rev.  E.  Heber 
Newton,  dares  to  suggest  mildly  that  even  the  apple  story  is 
a  fable,  is  silenced  by  his  bishop  or  hounded  down  for 

heresy.  And  still  they  go  right  on  telling  little  children 
that  it  is  the  word  of  God  and  the  only  guide  of  life.  For 
truth,  better  give  them  ^sop's  Fables  or  the  Arabian  Nights ; 
for  purity  the  Decameron  or  Don  Juan  ;  for  examples  of  justice 
the  story  of  Blue-Beard  or  the  life  of  Henry  the  Eighth. 

I  wish  you  would  read  the  Bible  carefully  jiist  as  you  would 
any  otlier  hook,  and  see  what  you  think  of  its  morals.  I  am 
debarred  from  touching  the  parts  of  it  that  are  the  greatest 
insult  to  purity  and  the  most  infamous  travesties  of  justice. 
I  can  only  say  to  you,  read  it,  and  if  you  are  lovers  of  purity 
you  will  find  that  it  teaches  respect  for  a  God  who  taught  the 
most  degrading  impurity  and  defended  those  who  forced  it 
upon  others.  If  you  believe  in  the  sacredness  of  human  life, 
he  gave  the  largest  license  to  murder.  It  does  not  matter  that 
Moses  said  he  told  him  to  tell  somebody  else  "  Thou  slialt  not 
kill ;  *  for  the  same  gentleman  remarked  upon  several  other 
occasions  that  God  told  him  not  only  to  kill,  but  to  steal,  to 
lie,  to  commit  arson,  to  break  pretty  much  all  the  other  com- 
mandments— and  to  be  a  professional  tramp  besides.  (I  am 
told  that  he  followed  this  latter  occupation  for  forty  years, 
which  I  should  think  would  give  him  the  belt.)  So  you  see  we 
have  the  same  gentleman's  word  for  all  of  it ;  and  at  times,  I 
must  confess,  it  does  not  seem  to  me  absolutely  reliable  author- 


*  See  Lecture  3,  "  Tlieolotpcal  Fictions." 


Knoioledge  Not  a  Crime. 


43 


ity.  There  is  one  thing  certain^  if  the  returns  are  correct^  and 
that  is  that  Moses  did  not  take  his  own  medicine  in  the  httle 
matter  of  keeping  the  commandments.  They  were  for  his 
enemies  and  his  slaves. 

If  you  love  liberty  remember  that  the  Bible  teaches  slavery 
in  every  form,  not  only  the  buying  of  slaves,  but  the  stealing 
them  into  bondage.  How  any  man  or  woman  who  censured 
slavery  in  our  Southern  States  can  permit  their  children  to  be 
taught  that  the  Bible  is  a  book  of  authority,  and  think  they 
are  consistent,  I  cannot  understand.  Every  slave-whip  had 
for  its  lash  the  Bible.  Every  slave-holder  had  its  teachings 
for  his  guide.  Every  slave-driver  found  his  authority  there. 
When  the  sword  of  the  North  severed  the  thongs  of  the  black 
man,  it  destroyed  the  absolute  control  of  the  Bible  in  America  ; 
and  gave  a  fatal  blow  to  Jehovah  the  God  of  oppression.  Only 
in  the  South  is  it  that  the  Bible  still  holds  its  own.  Freedom 
has  outgrown  it  ;  and  the  young  South  is  reading  it,  for  the 
first  time,  with  an  eraser  ! 

If  you  respect  your  mother,  if  you  wish  your  children  to 
respect  theirs,  you  will  find  that  the  Bible  teaches  not  only 
disrespect  for  her,  but  abject  slavery  and  the  most  oppressive 
degradation.  If  you  love  your  young  sister,  your  beautiful 
pure  daughter,  remember  that  J ehovah  taught  that,  whenever 
men  could  do  so,  they  were  to  abuse,  ruin,  degrade  them  ;  and 
remember,  further,  that  his  prophets'' — tJie  men  who  made 
our  religion — did  these  things  and  gloried  in  the  toork. 

It  is  for  this  reason  that  I  say  it  is  right  and  peculiarly  fit- 
ting that  women  should  object  to  his  teaching.  After  you  have 
read  the  31st  ch.  of  Numbers,  with  its  thus  saith  the  Lord,'' 
think  then  if  you  want  to  follow  such  teachings.  Decide  then 
whether  or  not  the  words,  the  acts,  the  commands,  or  the 
religion  of  such  men  is  good  enough  for  you.  Think  then 
whether  or  not  you  want  your  daughters,  your  sons,  to  believe 
that  the  Bible  has  one  grain  of  authority,  or  is  in  any  sense  a 

revelation  of  the  divine  will." 


44 


Men,  Women,  and  Gods. 


Don^t  allow  ministers  to  palm  off  platitudes  on  yon  for 
revelation  and  donU  let  them  make  you  believe  that  any- 
thing that  Moses  or  David  or  Solomon  said  was  the  command 
of  God  to  women.  Neither  one  of  those  men  was  fit  to  speak 
of  a  respectable  woman.  With  the  superior  morals  of  our  time 
neither  one  of  them  would  be  considered  fit  to  live  outside  of  a 
brothel. 

And  don^t  let  them  tell  you  what  Saint  Paul  said  either. 
What  did  he  know  about  women  anyway  ?  He  was  a  brilliant 
but  erratic  old  bachelor  who  fought  on  whichever  side  he  hap- 
pened to  find  himself  on.  He  could  accommodate  himself  to 
circumstances  and  accept  the  situation  almost  as  gracefully  as 
that  other  biblical  gentleman  who  quietly  went  to  housekeeping 
inside  of  a  whale^  and  held  the  fort  for  three  days. 

AS  MUCH  IKSPIRED  AS  AKY  OF  IT. 

Did  it  ever  occur  to  you  that  those  absurd  tales  have  as  much 
claim  to  be  called  the  word  of  God^^  as  any  of  the  rest  of  it  ? 
How  can  people  say  they  believe  such  nonsense?  And  how 
can  they  think  it  is  evidence  of  goodness  to  believe  it? 
They  say  it  takes  a  horribly  wicked  man  to  doubt  one  of  those 
yarns  ;  and  to  come  right  out  and  say  honestly,  ^^I  don't  be- 
lieve it/'  will  elect  you,  on  the  first  ballot,  to  a  permanent  seat 
in  the  lower  house.  Mr.  Talmage  says  four  out  of  five  Chris- 
tians try  to  explain  away  "  these  tales  by  giving  them  another 
meaning,  and  he  urges  them  not  to  do  it.  He  says,  stick  to 
the  original  story  in  all  its  literal  bearings.  The  advice  is  cer- 
tainly honest,  but  it  would  take  a  brave  man  to  follow  it.  And 
four  out  of  five  of  even  professed  Christians  is  a  pretty  heavy 
balance  on  the  side  of  intellectual  integrity  ;  and  even  Mr.  Tal- 
mage's  mammoth  credulity  fai4s  to  tip  the  scale. 

They  simply  can't  believe  these  biblical  stories,  so  they  try  to 
explain  the  marvellous  part  entirely  away.  It  has  about  come 
to  this,  in  this  day  of  thought  and  intelligence,  that  when  a 
thinking  man  claims  to  believe  these  tales,  and  says  it  is  an 


As  Much  Insjnred  as  Any  of  It, 


45 


evidence  of  rigliteousness  to  believe  them^  there  are  just  two 
things  to  examine,  his  intellect  and  his  integrity.  If  one  is  all 
right  the  other  is  pretty  sure  to  be  out  of  repair.  Defective 
intellect  or  doubtful  integrity  is  what  he  suffers  from.  He  has 
got  one  of  them  sure,  and  he  may  have  both. 

Now  I  should  just  like  to  ask  you  one  honest  question.  Why 
should  any  book  bind  us  to  sentiments  that  we  would  not  tole- 
rate if  they  came  from  any  other  source  ?  And  why  tolerate 
them  coming  from  it  ?  Do  you  know  who  compiled  the  Bible  ? 
Do  you  know  it  was  settled  by  vote  which  manuscripts  God  did 
and  which  he  did  not  write  ?  The  ballot  is  a  very  good  thing 
to  have  ;  but  I  decline  to  have  it  extend  its  power  into  eternity, 
and  bind  my  brain  by  the  capacity  of  a  ballot-box  held  by  caste 
and  saturated  with  blood. 

There  can  be  but  slow  progress  while  we  are  weighted  down 
by  the  superstitions  of  ages  past.  The  brain  of  the  nineteenth 
century  should  not  be  bound  down  to  the  capacity  of  the  third, 
nor  its  moral  sentiment  dwarfed  to  fit  Jehovah. 

But  so  long  as  the  theories  of  revelation  and  vicarious  atone- 
ment are  taught,  we  shall  not  need  to  be  surprised  that  every 
murderer  who  is  hanged  to-day  says  that  he  is  going,  with 
bloody  hands,  directly  into  companionship  with  the  deity  of 
revelation.  He  has  had  ample  time  in  prison  to  re-read  in  the 
Bible  (what  he  had  previously  been  taught  in  Sunday  school), 
of  many  worse  crimes  than  his  which  his  spiritual  adviser 
assures  him  (to  the  edification  and  encouragement  of  all  his 
kind  outside)  were  not  only  forgiven,  but  were  actually  ordered 
and  participated  in,  by  the  God  he  is  going  to. 

That  is  what  orthodoxy  tells  him  !  Just  think  of  it !  Do 
you  think  that  is  a  safe  doctrine  to  teach  to  the  criminal 
classes?  Aside  from  its  being  dishonest,  is  it  safe?  Does  it 
not  put  a  premium  on  crime  ?  I  maintain  that  it  is  always  a 
dangerous  religion  where  faith  in  a  given  dogma,  and  not  con- 
tinuous uprightness  of  life,  is  the  standard  of  excellence.  It  is 
a  cruel  religion  where  force  is  king  and  immorality  God.  It 


46 


Men,  Women,  and  Gods. 


is  an  unjust  religion  which  seeks  to  make  women  serfs  and 
men  tyrants.  It  is  an  unreasonable  religion  where  credulity 
usurps  the  place  of  intellect  and  judgment.  It  is  an  immoral 
religion  where  vice  is  deified  and  virtue  strangled.  It  is  a 
cowardly  religion  where  an  innocent  man^  who  was  murdered 
1,800  years  ago^  is  asked  to  bear  the  burden  of  your  wrong  acts 
to-day.    Aside  from  its  impossibility  that  is  cowardly. 

Man  should  be  taught  that  for  every  wrong  he  does^  he  must 
himself  be  responsible — not  that  some  one  else  stands  between 
him  and  absolute  personal  responsibility — not  that  Eve  caused 
him  to  sin^  nor  that  Christ  stands  between  him  and  full 
accountability  for  his  every  act. 

And  he  should  be  taught  that  for  every  noble  deed,  for  every 
act  of  justice  or  mercy,  he  deserves  the  credit  himself ;  that 
Christ  does  not  need  it ;  that  Christ  cannot  want  it ;  and  that 
Christ  does  not  deserve  it. 

And  you  will  not  want  to  wash  your  hands  in  the  blood  of 
Christ/^  nor  to  shed  that  of  any  other  innocent  man,  if  your 
motives  are  pure  and  your  lives  clean. 


VICARIOUS  ATONEMENT. 


IN  an  art  collection  in  Boston  there  is  a  god — a  redeemer — 
the  best  illustration  I  have  ever  seen  of  the  vicarious  atone- 
ment theory.  It  is  a  perfect  representation  of  the  agony 
endured  by  a  helpless  and  innocent  being  in  order  to  relieve 
the  guilty  of  their  guilt.  This  god  was  captured  in  Central 
Africa  before  his  mission  was  complete,  and  there  is  still 
suffering-space  upon  his  body  unused. 

It  is  a  wooden  image  of  some  frightful  beast,  and  it  is  repre- 
sented as  suft'ering  the  most  intense  physical  agony.  Nails 
are  driven  into  its  head,  body,  legs,  and  feet.  Each  wrong- 
doer who  wanted  to  relieve  himself  of  his  own  guilt  drove  a 
nail,  a  tack,  a  brad,  or  a  spike  into  the  flesh  of  his  god.  The 
god  suffered  the  pain ;  the  man  escaped  the  punishment. 
He  cast  his  burdens  on  his  god,  and  went  on  his  way  rejoicing. 
Here  is  vicarious  atonement  in  all  its  pristine  glory.  The  god 
is  writhing  and  distorted  with  pain  ;  the  criminal  has  relieved 
himself  of  further  responsibility,  and  his  faith  has  made  him 
whole.  His  sins  are  forgiven,  and  his  god  will  assume  his 
load. 

It  is  curious  to  examine  the  various  illustrations  of  human 
nature  as  represented  by  the  size  and  shape  of  the  nails.  A 
sensitive  man  had  committed  a  trifling  offence,  and  he  drove 
a  great  spike  into  the  head  of  the  god.  A  thick-skinned 
criminal  inserted  a  small  tack  where  it  would  do  the  least 
harm — in  the  hoof.     An  honest,  or  an  egotistic  penitent 


48 


Vicar  ions  Atonenmit, 


drove  his  nail  in  where  it  stands  out  prominently ;  while  the 
secretive  devotee  placed  his  among  a  mass  of  others  of  long 
standing  and  inconspicuous  location. 

One  day  I  stood  with  a  friend  looking  at  this  god.  My 
friend,  who  was  a  devout  believer  in  the  vicarious  theory  of 
justification  and  punishment  as  explained  away  by  the  ethical 
divines  of  Boston,  was  unable  to  see  anything  but  the  most 
horrible  brutality  and  willingness  to  inflict  pain  on  the  part  of 
these  African  devotees,  and  was  equally  unable  to  recognize 
the  same  principle  when  applied  to  orthodoxy.  She  said, 
^"^Is  it  not  horrible,  the  ignorance  and  superstition  of  these 
poor  people?  What  a  vast  field  of  labor  our  missionaries 
have.^^ 

To  her  the  idea  of  justification  by  faith  in  a  suffering  god 
meant  only  superstition  and  brutality  when  plainly  illustrated 
in  somebody  else's  religion  ;  but  the  same  idea,  the  same 
morality,  the  same  justice,  she  thought  beautiful  when  applied 
to  Christianity. 

I  said,  There  is  the  whole  vicarious  theory  in  wood  and 
iron.  That  is  exactly  the  same  as  the  Christian  idea  ;  and  the 
same  human  characteristics  are  plainly  traceable  in  the  size 
and  location  of  these  nails. 

A  Presbyterian  or  a  Methodist  drives  his  nail  in  the  most 
conspicuous  spot,  where  the  flesh  is  tender  and  the  suffering 
plainly  visible.  The  Episcopalian  or  Catholic  uses  a  small 
tack,  and  drives  it  as  much  out  of  sight  as  possible,  covering 
it  over  with  stained  glass,  and  distracting  the  attention  with 
music  ;  but  the  bald,  cruel,  unjust,  immoral,  degrading,  and 
dishonest  principle  is  there  just  the  same. 

Faith  in  blind  acts  of  devotion;  the  suffering  of  inno- 
cence for  guilt ;  transferring  of  crime  ;  comfort  and  safety 
purchased  for  self  by  the  infliction  of  pain  and  unmerited 
torture  upon  another  ;  premiums  offered  for  ignorance  and 
credulity ;  punishments  guaranteed  for  honest  doubt  and 
earnest  protest — all  these  beautiful  provisions  of  the  vicarious 


Fear. 


49 


theory  are  as  essential  to  our  missionary's  belief  as  to  that  of 
his  African  converts  ;  and  it  seems  to  me  simply  a  choice 
between  thumbs  up  and  thumbs  down/' 

While  we  were  talking  my  friend's  pastor  joined  us^  and  she 
told  him  what  I  had  said,  and  asked  him  what  was  the  differ- 
ence between  the  Christian  and  the  heathen  idea  of  a  suffering 
god.  He  said  he  could  explain  it  in  five  minutes  some  morning 
when  he  had  time.  He  said  that  the  one  was  the  true  and 
living  faith,  and  the  other  was  blind  superstition.  He  also  said 
that  he  could  easily  make  us  see  which  was  which.  Then  he 
gracefully  withdrew  with  the  air  of  one  who  says  :  In  six 
days  God  made  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  and  on  the  seventh 
day  lie  and  /  rested."  He  has  not  called  since  to  explain. 
While  he  stayed,  however,  his  manner  was  deeply,  solemnly, 
awfully  impressive  ;  and  of  course  I  resigned  on  the  spot. 

The  theory  of  vicarious  atonement  is  the  child  of  cowardice 
and  fear.  It  arranges  for  a  man  to  be  a  criminal  and  to  escape 
the  consequences  of  his  crime.  It  destroys  personal  responsi- 
bility, the  most  essential  element  of  moral  character.  It  is 
contrary  to  every  moral  principle. 

The  Church  never  has  been  and  never  will  be  able  to  explain 
why  a  god  should  be  forced  to  resort  to  such  injustice  to  rectify 
a  mistake  of  his  own.  To  earnest  questions  and  honest 
thoughts  it  has  always  replied  with  threats.  It  has  always 
silenced  inquiry  and  persecuted  thought.  Past  authority  is  its 
god,  present  investigation  its  devil.  With  it  brains  are  below 
par,  and  ignorance  is  at  a  premium.  It  has  never  learned  that 
the  most  valuable  capital  in  this  world  is  the  brain  of  a  scholar. 

FEAR. 

Every  earnest  thought,  like  every  earnest  thinker,  adds  some- 
thing to  the  wealth  of  the  world.  Blind  belief  in  the  thought 
of  another  produces  only  hopeless  mediocrity.  Individual 
effort,  not  mere  acceptance,  marks  the  growth  of  the  mind. 
The  most  fatal  blow  to  progress  is  slavery  of  the  intellect.  The 


41 


50 


Vicarious  Atonement. 


most  sacred  right  of  humanity  is  the  right  to  think,  and  next 
to  the  right  to  think  is  the  right  to  express  that  thought  with- 
out fear. 

Fear  is  the  nearest  approach  to  the  ball  and  chain  that  this 
age  will  permit,  and  it  should  be  the  glorious  aim  of  the 
thinkers  of  to-day  that  so  refined  and  cruel  a  form  of  tyranny 
shall  not  be  left  for  those  who  come  after  us.  We  owe  physical 
freedom  to  the  intellectual  giants  of  the  past ;  let  us  leave 
mental  freedom  to  the  intellectual  children  of  the  future. 

Fear  scatters  the  blossoms  of  genius  to  the  winds,  and  super- 
stition buries  truth  beneath  the  incrustation  of  inherited  medi- 
ocrity. Fear  puts  the  fetters  of  religious  stagnation  on  every 
child  of  the  brain.  It  covers  the  form  of  purity  and  truth  with 
the  contagion  of  contumely  and  distrust.  It  warps  and  dwarfs 
every  character  that  it  touches.  It  is  the  father,  mother,  and 
nurse  of  hypocrisy.  It  is  the  one  great  disgrace  of  our  day,  the 
one  incalculable  curse  of  our  time  ;  and  its  nurse  and  hot-bed  is 
the  Church. 

Because  I,  a  woman,  have  dared  to  speak  publicly  against 
the  dictatorship  of  the  Church,  the  Church,  with  its  usual 
force  and  honor,  answers  argument  with  personal  abuse.  One 
reply  it  gives.  It  is  this.  If  a  woman  did  not  find  comfort 
and  happiness  in  the  Church,  she  would  not  cling  to  it.  If  it 
were  not  good  for  her,  she  in  her  purity  and  truth  would  not 
uphold  it  in  the  face  of  the  undeniable  fact  that  the  present 
generation  of  thinking  men  have  left  it  utterly. 

You  will  find,  however,  that  in  every  land,  under  every  form 
of  faith,  in  each  phase  of  credulity,  it  is  the  woman  who  clings 
closest  and  longest  to  the  religion  she  has  been  taught ;  yet  no 
Christian  will  maintain  that  this  fact  establishes  the  truth  of 
any  other  belief.* 

They  will  not  argue  from  this  that  women  know  more  of  and 

*  "  Exactly  the  same  thing  may  be  said  of  the  women  in  the  harem 
of  an  Oriental.  They  do  not  complain.  .  .  .  They  think  our 
women  insufferably  unfeminine." — Mill, 


Fear 


51 


have  a  clearer  insight  into  the  divine  will !  If  she  knows  more 
about  it^  if  she  understands  it  all  better  than  men^  why  does  she 
not  occupy  the  pulpit?  Why  does  she  not  hold  the  official 
positions  in  the  Churches  ?  Why  has  she  not  received  even  recog- 
nition in  our  system  of  religion  ?  Who  ever  heard  of  a  minister 
being  surprised  that  God  did  not  reveal  any  of  the  forms  of 
belief  through  a  woman  ?  If  she  knows  and  does  the  will  of 
God  so  much  better  than  man^  why  did  he  not  reveal  himself 
to  her  and  place  his  earthly  kingdom  in  her  hands  ? 

That  argument  won't  do!  As  long  as  creed  and  Church 
held  absolute  power  there  was  no  question  but  that  woman 
was  a  curse,  that  she  was  an  inferior  being,  an  after-thought. 
No  Church  but  the  Roman  Catholic  has  the  decency  to  rec- 
ognize even  the  so-called  mother  of  God!  The  Church  has 
never  offered  women  equality  or  justice.  Its  test  of  excellence 
is  force.  The  closer  a  Church  or  creed  clings  to  its  spirit,  the 
more  surely  does  it  assume  to  dictate  to  and  control  woman  and 
to  degrade  her.  The  more  liberal  the  creed  the  nearer  does  it 
come  to  offering  individual  justice  and  liberty. 

The  testimony  of  our  own  missionaries,  as  well  as  that  of 
many  others,  assures  us  that  it  is  not  the  Turk  but  his  wives 
who  hold  fastest  to  their  faith.  The  women  of  the  harem, 
whom  we  pity  because  of  the  injustice  of  their  religious  train- 
ing, are  the  last  to  relinquish  their  god,  the  most  bitter 
opponents  of  the  infidel  or  sceptic  in  their  Church,  the  most 
devout  and  constant  believers  of  the  faith,  and  the  most 
content  with  its  requirements.  They  are  the  ones  who  cling 
to  the  form  even  when  the  substance  has  departed — and  it  is 
so  with  us  ! 

Among  the  heathen'^  it  is  the  women  who  are  most 
shocked  and  offended  by  the  attacks  made  upon  their  supersti- 
tions by  the  missionaries  whom  we  pay  to  go  to  them  and  blas- 
pheme their  gods  and  destroy  their  idols. 

Go  where  you  will,  read  history  as  you  may,  and  you  will 
find  that  it  is  the  men  who  invented  religion,  and  the  women 


.)HWERSm  OF  ^^^^^ 


52 


Vicarious  Atone^nent. 


who  believed  in  it.  They  are  the  last  to  give  it  up.  The 
2)liysically  weak  dread  cliange.  Inexperience  fears  the  un- 
known. Ignorance  shuns  thought  or  development.  The  de- 
pendent cannot  be  brave. 

We  are  all  prepared  to  admits  I  thinks  that^  with  but  few 
marked  exceptions  here  and  tliere^  the  women  of  most  coun- 
tries are  physically  and  mientally  undeveloped.  They  have  had 
fear  and  dependence^  the  dread  enemies  of  progress  and 
growth^  constantly  to  retard  them.  Fear  of  physical  harm, 
fear  of  social  ostracism,  fear  of  eternal  damnation.  With  rare 
exceptions  a  child  with  a  weak  body,  or  any  other  dependent, 
will  do  as  he  is  told  ;  and  women  have  believed  to  order. 
They  have  done  so  not  only  in  Christianity  but  in  Buddhism, 
Mohammedanism,  Mormonism,  and  Fetichism — in  each  and 
all  of  them.  Each  and  all  of  these  religions  being  matter  of 
faith,  religion  was  the  one  subject  in  which  every  Church  alike 
claimed  ignorance  as  a  virtue  ;  and  the  women  understood  that 
the  men  understood  it  as  little  as  they  did.  It  was  a  field 
where  credulity  and  a  solemn  countenance  placed  all  on  an 
intellectual  level — and  the  altitude  of  the  level  was  immaterial. 

Women  have  never  been  expected  to  understand  anything  ; 
hence  jargon  about  the  testimony  of  the  spirit,  the  three 
in  one^^  absurdity,  the  ^Hiorns  of  the  altar,  or  the  widow's  oil 
miracle  was  not  more  empty  or  unmeaning  to  her  than  a  con- 
versation about  Bonds  and  Stocks,  Political  Economy,  or 
Medical  Science.  She  swallowed  her  religion  just  as  she  did 
her  pills,  because  the  doctor  told  her  to,  and  said  there  was 
something  wrong  with  her  head — and  usually  there  was. 

BEGII^^NING  TO  THINK. 

The  past  education  of  woman  gave  her  an  outlook  which 
simply  embraced  a  husband  or  nothing  at  all,  which  was  often 
only  a  choice  between  two  of  a  kind. 

There  are  a  great  many  women  to-day  who  think  that  ortho- 
doxy is  as  great  nonsense  as  I  do,  but  who  are  afraid  to  say  so. 


Creeds. 


53 


They  whisper  it  to  each  other.  They  are  afraid  of  the  slander 
of  the  Church. 

I  want  to  help  make  it  so  that  they  will  dare  to  speak.  I 
want  to  do  what  I  can  to  make  it  so  that  a  mother  won't  have 
to  eyade  the  questions  of  her  children  about  the  Bible. 

CREEDS. 

I  am  sometimes  asked,  What  do  you  propose  to  give  in 
place  of  this  comforting  faith?  It  makes  people  so  happy. 
You  take  away  all  this  blessing  and  you  give  no  other  in  its 
place.    What  is  your  creed  ?  " 

It  has  never  seemed  to  me  that  a  creed  was  the  staff  of  life. 
Man  cannot  live  by  creeds  alone.  I  should  not  object,  how- 
ever, to  one  that  should  read  something  like  this  : 

I  believe  in  honesty. 

I  believe  that  a  Church  has  no  right  to  teach  what  it  does 
not  know. 

I  believe  that  a  clean  life  and  a  tender  heart  are  worth 
more  to  this  world  than  all  the  faith  and  all  the  gods  of 
Time. 

I  believe  that  this  world  needs  all  our  best  efforts  and 
earnest  endeavors  twenty-four  hours  every  day. 

I  believe  that  if  our  labors  were  needed  in  another  world  we 
should  be  in  another  world  ;  so  long  as  we  are  in  this  one  I 
believe  in  making  the  best  and  the  most  of  the  materials  we 
have  on  hand. 

I  believe  that  fear  of  a  god  cripples  men's  intellects  more 
than  any  other  influence.  I  believe  that  Humanity  needs 
and  should  have  all  our  time,  efforts,  love,  worship,  and 
tenderness. 

I  believe  that  one  world  is  all  we  can  deal  with  at  a  time. 

I  believe  that,  if  there  is  a  future  life,  the  best  possible 
preparation  for  it  is  to  do  the  very  best  we  can  here  and  now. 

I  believe  that  love  for  our  fellow-men  is  infinitely  nobler, 
better,  and  more  necessary  than  love  for  God. 


54 


Vicarious  Atonement. 


I  belieye  that  men,  women,  and  children  need  our  best 
thoughts,  our  tenderest  consideration,  and  our  earnest 
sympathy. 

I  believe  that  God  can  get  on  just  as  well  without  any  of 
these  as  with  them.  If  he  wants  anything  he  can  get  it  with- 
out our  assistance.  It  is  people  with  limitations,  not  gods 
without  limitations,  who  need  and  should  have  our  aid. 

I  believe  that  it  is  better  to  build  one  happy  home  here  than 
to  invest  in  a  thousand  churches  which  deal  with  a  hereafter. 

If  a  life  that  embraces  this  line  of  action  does  not  fit  a  man 
for  heaven,  and  if  faith  in  vicarious  atonement  will,  then 
such  a  heaven  is  not  worth  going  to,  and  its  god  would  be 
unworthy  to  make  a  good  man's  acquaintance. 

But  suppose  that  faith  in  a  myth  is  destroyed  and  another 
mysticism  be  not  set  up  in  its  place,  what  then?  If  a  mother 
takes  her  child  away  from  the  fire,  which  it  finds  beautiful, 
and  believes  to  be  a  nice  toy,  is  it  necessary  for  her  to  give  it 
a  kerosene  lamp  in  its  place  ?  She  destroys  a  joleasant  delu- 
sion— a  faith  and  a  delightful  hope  and  confidence — because 
she  knows  its  danger  and  recognizes  its  false  foundation.  It 
is  surely  not  necessary  that  she  should  give  to  the  child 
another  delusion  equally  dangerous  and  false.  She  gives  it 
something  she  knows  to  be  safe ;  something  she  understands 
will  not  burn  ;  something  which,  though  not  so  bright  and 
attractive  to  the  child  at  first,  gives  pleasure  without  pain, 
occupation  without  disaster.  Is  she  cruel  or  only  sensible  ? 
If  I  were  to  pretend  to  a  knowledge  of  a  divine  creed,  a  super- 
human system,  I  should  be  guilty  of  the  same  dishonesty,  the 
same  deception  of  which  I  complain  in  the  Church. 

I  do  not  know  of  any  divine  commands.  I  do  know  of 
most  important  human  ones.  I  do  not  know  the  needs  of  a 
god  or  of  another  world.  I  do  not  know  anything  about  ^^a 
land  that  is  fairer  than  day."  I  do  know  that  women  make 
shirts  for  seventy  cents  a  dozen  in  this  one.  I  do  know  that 
the  needs  of  humanity  and  this  world  are  infinite,  unending, 


Self-Control  What  We  Need, 


55 


constant,  and  immediate.  They  will  take  all  our  time,  our 
strength,  our  love,  and  our  thoughts  ;  and  our  work  here 
will  be  only  then  begun. 

Why  not,  if  you  believe  in  a  God  at  all,  give  him  credit  for 
placing  you  where  he  wanted  you  ?  Why  not  give  him  credit 
for  giving  you  brains  and  sympathies,,  as  well  as  the  courage 
to  use  them.  Even  if  Eve  did  eat  that  apple,  why  should  we 
insist  upon  having  the  colic  ? 

SELF-COKTROL  WHAT  WE  NEED. 

I  want  to  see  the  time  come  when  mothers  won't  have  to 
explain  to  their  children  that  God  has  changed  his  mind  about 
goodness  and  right  since  he  used  to  incite  murder ;  that 
eighteen  hundred  years  -ago  he  was  a  criminal  with  bloody 
hands  and  vile,  polluted  breath  ;  that  less  than  three  hun- 
dred years  ago  his  greatest  pleasure  was  derived  from  wit- 
nessing the  agony  of  pure  young  girls  burning  alive,  whose 
only  crime  was  beauty  of  face  or  honesty  of  thought.* 

I  want  it  so  that  she  won't  allow  her  children  to  hear  and 
believe  such  a  statement  as  Bishop  Fallows  made  not  long  ago. 
lie  said,  in  effect,  that  sins  of  omission  are  as  heinous  as 
those  of  commission  :  that  Saul  committed  two  sins  in  his 
life,  and  that  one  of  them  was  a  refusal  to  commit  a  cold- 
blooded murder  !  He  spared  the  life  of  a  conquered  enemy  ! 
Out  of  a  whole  nation  he  saved  one  life — and  that  was  a 
crime ,  a  sin  !  Bishop  Fallows  said  that  God  expressly  com- 
manded Saul  to  utterly  exterminate  that  whole  nation,  and  not 
only  the  nation  but  its  flocks  ;  and  that  God  took  Saul's  king- 
dom from  him  because  he  saved  the  life  of  one  fallen  enemy. 

That  story,  I  think,  is  a  libel ;  and  I  believe  that  if  there 
is  a  God  he  was  never  such  a  fiend  !  And  I  want  it  so  that 
no  mother  will  allow  her  child  to  hear  such  an  infamous 
travesty  of  the  character  of  a  Deity  who  is  called  good* 


*  See  Gage,    History  of  Woman  Suffrage,"  p.  766. 


56 


Vicarious  Atonement, 


I  want  it  so  that  all  the  lessons  of  the  week,  all  the  careful 
training  of  a  wise  father  or  a  good  mother^  will  not  be  antag- 
onized on  Sunday  by  such  a  statement  as  the  Kev.  Mr.  Wil- 
liamson made  at  a  large  church  convention  recently.  Speak- 
ing of  prayer,  he  said  :  We  should  offer  to  God,  by  prayer, 
our  yirtue,  our  purity,  and  our  pious  aspirations"  (so  far  I  do 
not  object,  for  if  it  means  anything  I  fail  to  grasp  it),  *^for 
by  not  doing  so  we  claim  self-control,  which  is  displeasing  to 
God  !" 

I  object !  The  lesson  of  self-control  is  precisely  what  we 
need.  And  when  we  control  ourselves  and  regulate  our  lives 
on  principles  of  right  and  truth,  instead  of  allowing  a  Church 
to  regulate  them  through  a  fear  of  hell,  we  shall  be  a  better 
people,  and  character  will  have  a  chance  to  grow. 

Then  this  same  gentleman  added:  *MVe  should  also  give 
him  our  vices,  our  worry,  our  temper,  and  our  passions,  so 
that  he  may  dispose  of  them." 

Dispose  of  them  yourselves  !  Don't  try  to  shift  your 
responsibilities  on  to  somebody  else.  Don't  drive  your  tack 
into  the  brain  of  justice,  expecting  to  save  your  own  soft 
skull.  Don't  enervate  your  strength  to  do  ]'ight  by  accepting 
the  fatal  doctrine  of  vicarious  atonement.  It  weakens  every 
character  that  it  touches. 

VICARIOUS  ATOKEMEKT  NOT  A  CHRISTIAN  INVENTION. 

The  doctrine  of  vicarious  atonement  is  found  in  some  form 
in  most  religions,  and  it  is  the  body  and  soul  of  ours.  The  idea 
is  not  a  Christian  invention.  It  caused  the  Carthaginians  to 
put  to  death  their  handsomest  prisoners  if  a  battle  were  won, 
the  most  promising  children  of  their  own  nobility  if  it  were 
lost.    They  were  offerings  to  appease  the  gods. 

In  old  times  there  were  peoples  who  believed  that  if  a  chief 
was  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor  it  was  just  to  punish  or  enslave 
any  one  of  his  tribe.  That  was  their  idea  of  liberty  and 
justice.    If  a  father  committed  a  crime  it  could  be  expiated 


Self- Control  What  We  Need. 


57 


by  the  murder  of  his  son.  That  was  the  doctrine  of  yicarious 
atonement  in  all  its  pristine  glory.  So  they  adopted  that 
style  of  justice  in  our  religion,  and  condemned  the  whole  lot 
of  us  to  the  eternal  wrath  of  God  on  account  of  that  little 
indiscretion  attributed  to  Eve.  It  seems  a  very  little  thing 
for  anybody  to  get  so  mad  at  us  all  about,  and  stay  mad  so 
long  I  It  doesn't  seem  to  me  that  if  one  of  you  were  to  eat 
every  apple  I  had  in  my  orchard,  I  should  want  to  murder 
and  eternally  damn  all  the  folks  that  live  in  Asia  Minor.  Do 
you  think  you  would  ? 

In  the  11th  verse  of  the  12th  chapter  of  the  second  book 
of  Samuel  it  is  claimed  that  God  said  he  was  going  to 
be  revenged  for  the  crimes  of  some  men  by  a  vile  punishment 
of  their  wives. 

Only  a  short  time  ago  a  man  tried  that  same  style  of  justice 
in  one  of  our  Western  towns.  lie  claimed  that  Smith  had 
alienated  the  affections  of  his  wife,  so  he  went  over  to  Smith's 
house  and  ^chipped  Mrs.  Smith  !  And  do  you  know  that  the 
judge  who  tried  that  case  (not  being  a  good  Bible  student) 
actually  sent  that  good,  pious  man  to  the  house  of  correction 
— that  man  who  not  only  believed  in  his  Bible,  but  lived  by 
it !  And  just  as  likely  as  not  that  judge  will  be  elected  again. 
Truly  we  have  fallen  on  degenerate  times  ! 

Legal  minds  outgrew  the  idea  of  vicarious  punishment  long 
ago.  Physical  liberty  came  to  have  a  new  meaning,  and 
punishment  was  awarded  more  nearly  where  it  was  due.  But 
the  religious  mind  never  outgrows  anything.  It  is  born  as 
big  as  it  ever  gets.  Development  is  its  terror.  It  abhors  a 
change.  It  forces  you  to  sin  by  proxy,  to  be  redeemed  by 
proxy  ;  and  the  only  thing  it  does  permit  you  to  receive  at 
first  hand  is  Hell.  That  is  the  only  one  thing  you  can't 
delegate  to  somebody  else. 

If  you  commit  no  sin,  you  are  responsible  for  the  sins  of 
other  people  —dead  people,  too,  that  you  can't  look  after. 
If  you  are  good  and  true  and  noble — even  if  you  are  a 


58 


Vicarious  Atonement. 


Christian — you  don't  get  any  credit  for  it.  If  there  is  any 
one  thing  above  another  that  God  detests  it  is  to  have  a  man 
try  to  be  grand  and  noble  and  true,  and  then  get  the  credit 
of  it.  "  To  Christ  belongs  all  the  honor,  the  praise^  and  the 
glory — world  without  end,  Amen/^ 

But  when  it  conies  to  the  punishment,  the  vicarious  notion 
doesn't  seem  to  work.  There  is  the  one  point  where  you  are 
welcome  to  your  own,  and  no  discount  allowed  to  heavy  takers. 
Hell  is  always  at  par  and  no  bail  permitted.  Even  ignorance 
of  the  requirements  is  no  excuse.  If  you  did  not  know  any 
better,  somebody  else  did,  and  you've  got  to  pay  for  it. 

Now  if  the  vicarious  principle  is  not  big  enough  to  go  clear 
round,  I'll  leave  my  share  off  at  the  other  end.  If  the  Church 
wants  to  take  my  hell  (vicariously)  it  is  welcome  to  it.  I  will 
let  it  go  cheap. 

Awhile  ago  a  man  stayed  some  time  at  a  hotel  in  New 
York,  and  when  the  time  came  for  him  to  pay  his  bill  he 
hadn't  the  money.  Well,  the  proprietor  felt  sorry  for  him 
and  said,  '^'I  tell  you  what  I'll  do  about  that  bill,  I'll  throw 
off  half."  His  guest  was  overwhelmed  by  this  liberality,  and 
with  tears  of  gratitude  said,  I  cannot  permit  you  to  outdo  me 
in  generosity;  I'll  throw  off  the  other  half  and  we'll  call  it 
square." 

So  if  the  Church  desires  all  the  credit,  it  is  also  welcome  to 
all  the  blame.  I  cannot  permit  it  to  outdo  me  in  generosity. 
But  I'd  rather  be  responsible  for  just  my  own  sins,  and  then 
I  can  regulate  them  better,  and  I  can  take  care  of  my  own 
reward  when  I  get  it.  I  shall  not  want  to  deposit  it  with  the 
clergy.  A  profit  and  loss  system  that  is  chiefly  loss  will  not 
pay  me. 

The  doctrines  of  vicarious  atonement  and  original  or  in- 
herited sin  are  the  most  infamously  unjust  dogmas  that  ever 
clouded  the  brain  of  man. 


Twin  Mb7isters  Inlierited  from  IntdUctual  Pigmies.  59 


TWm  MOKSTERS  li^HERITED  FROM  INTELLECTUAL  PIGMIES. 

They  are  twin  monsters  inlierited  from  intellectual  pigmies. 

Let  me  read  you  a  little  prayer  based  upon  this  idea  of  right. 
I  heard  it  offered  as  a  thanksgiving  tribute.  ^"^Oh,  God^  we 
do  thank  thee  that  thou  didst  give  thy  only  son  to  die  for  us  ! 
We  tJianh  tJiee  that  the  innocent  lias  suffered  for  the  guilty,  and 
that  through  the  suffering  and  death  of  thy  most  holy  son  our 
sins  are  blotted  out ! " 

Monstrous !  How  would  that  work  in  a  court  of  justice? 
What  would  you  think  of  a  person  who  coolly  thanked  a 
judge  who  had  knowingly  allowed  the  wrong  man  to  be  hung  ? 
What  do  you  think  of  a  code  of  morals  that  offers  as  one  of  its 
beautiful  provisions  the  murder  of  the  innocent  instead  of  the 
punishment  of  the  guilty  ? 

People  ask  what  good  I  expect  to  come  of  an  attack  on 
Christianity.  They  ask  me  if  I  think  Christianity  does  any 
direct  harm.  Yes  !  It  makes  a  man  unjust  to  believe  in  unjust 
doctrines.  Any  man  who  honestly  believes  in  the  righteous- 
ness of  a  system  of  vicarious  rewards  and  punishments  is  ripe 
for  any  form  of  tyranny.  And  the  more  honestly  he  believes 
in  it  the  less  will  he  be  a  good  man  from  principle. 

I  want  men  and  women  to  be  good  and  true  because  it  is 
right  towards  each  other,  and  not  because  they  are  afraid  of 
Hell.  Honor  towards  people  in  this  world,  not  fear  of  a  fiend 
in  the  next — that  is  my  doctrine.  That  is  the  way  to  make 
men  and  women  strong  aiad  brave  and  noble.  Stop  telling 
them  they  can^t  be  good  themselves ;  teach  them  that  they 
must  do  right  themselves.  Make  them  self-dependent.  Teach 
them  to  stand  alone.  Honor  towards  others,  kindness,  and  love 
■ — these  are  what  make  a  man  a  good  husband,  a  noble  father — 
king  in  his  household. 

Fear  never  made  any  man  a  gentleman.  Fear  never  made 
any  woman  a  true  wife  or  a  good  mother.    Fear  never  covered 


60 


Vicarious  Atonement, 


the  pitfalls  of  vice  with  anything  stronger  than  the  gloss  of 
hypocrisy. 

When  Reason^s  torch  burned  low^  Faith  led  her  victims  by 
chains  of  ignorance  into  the  land  of  hopeless  superstition^  and 
built  her  temple  there. 

GEOGRAPHICAL  RELIGION". 

A  religion  of  faith  is  simply  a  question  in  geography.  Keep 
your  locality  in  mind  and  you  are  all  right.  On  the  banks  of 
the  Red  Sea  murder  and  slavery  were  a  religious  duty.  On  the 
Ganges  infanticide  is  a  virtue.  In  Rome  you  may  steal  or  lie  ; 
you  may  deceive  an  innocent  young  girl  and  blast  her  life  for- 
ever ;  you  may  stab  your  friend  in  the  dark,  and  you  are  all 
right :  but  if  you  eat  a  piece  of  fried  pork  on  Friday  you  are 
a  lost  man  !  China  arranges  her  prayers  in  a  machine,  and 
turns  her  obligations  to  Deity  ofE  with  a  crank.  There  is 
usually  more  or  less  intimate  relationship  between  prayer  and  a 
crank.  Our  God  loved  human  sacrifice  in  Galilee,  and  re- 
warded Abraham  for  it.  He  abhors  it  in  Pocasset,  America, 
and  his  followers  threaten  to  hang  the  only  consistent  follower 
of  Jehovah  who  has  come  amongst  them. 

If  you  live  in  Utah,  or  had  lived  in  Jerusalem,  your  most 
certain  hope  of  salvation  would  have  been  the  possession  of 
numerous  wives.  In  England  or  New  York  more  than  one  is 
sure  damnation. 

Lose  your  bearings  and  you  are  a  lost  man  !  Make  a  mis- 
take in  your  county  and  your  soul  is  not  worth  a  copper.  A 
traveler  is  not  safe  five  minutes,  and  I  doubt  if  an  accident  policy 
would  cover  his  case. 

God  and  the  Devil  have  been  held  accountable  for  about 
every  crime  that  ever  has  been  committed,  and  it  has  been  very 
largely  a  geographical  question  which  of  the  two  was  responsible. 
If  it  was  longitude  35°  14'  east  it  was  the  Lord  !  If  you  shifted 
to  longitude  70°  58'  west  it  was  the  devil. 

When  locality  becomes  the  all-important  question,  we  do  not 


Revelation. 


61 


wonder  at  the  old  lady  who  felt  relieved  when  the  new  survey 
threw  her  house  just  across  the  state  line  into  Ohio^  after  she 
had  been  under  the  impression  that  she  lived  in  Indiana. 
^^Well/^  said  she,  ^'1  am  glad  we  don^t  live  in  Indiana ;  I 
always  did  say  it  was  a  very  unhealthy  state.  Now,  our  doctor^s 
bills  won^t  be  so  high.^^ 

Pocasset,  Mass.,  is  in  the  devil's  country,  and  murder  is  not 
safe  ;  it  is  a  crime.  Abraham  and  Saul  lived  in  a  healthier  cli- 
mate— in  God's  congressional  district,  where  murder  was  above 
par  and  decency  was  out  of  fashion.  Take  it  all  in  all,  and  the 
devil  seems  to  make  the  best  governor. 

Now  it  seems  to  me  that  Sunday-schools  should  teach  nothing 
so  much  as  geography,  so  that  a  man  may  not  be  in  doubt  as  to 
who  is  his  Secretary  of  State,  and  when  an  order  comes  from 
head-quarters  he  may  fairly  be  expected  to  know  whether  it  is 
safe  to  obey — whether  obedience  means  glorification  on  earth 
and  a  home  in  heaven,  or  a  sprained  neck  and  a  bright  fire.  It 
seems  now  that  Pocasset  is  over  the  line  and  out  of  the  Lord's 
clearing. 

KEVELATIOi^. 

Now  this  God  either  did  or  he  did  not  believe  in  and  com- 
mand murder  and  rapine  in  the  days  when  he  used  to  sit  around 
evenings  and  chat  with  Abraham  and  Moses  and  the  rest  of 
them.  His  especial  plans  and  desires  were  revealed"  or  they 
were  not.  The  ideas  of  justice  and  right  were  higher  in  those 
days  than  they  are  now,  or  else  we  are  wiser  and  better  than 
God,  or  else  the  Bible  is  not  his  revealed  will.  You  can  take 
your  choice.  My  choice  is  to  keep  my  respect  for  divine  jus- 
tice and  honor,  and  let  the  Bible  bear  the  burden  of  its  own 
mistakes. 

If  religion  is  a  revelation,  then  it  is  not  a  growth,  and  it 
would  have  been  most  perfect  in  design  and  plan  when  it  was 
nearest  its  birth.  Now  accepting  the  Bible  theory  of  Jehovah, 
we  find  that  when  the  communications  of  God  were  immediate 


62 


Vicarious  Atonement. 


and  personal  there  could  have  been  no  mistake  as  to  his  will. 
To  deal  with  it  as  a  growth  or  evolution  toward  better  things  is 
to  abandon  the  whole  tenet  of  a  revealed  law  of  God.  But  to 
deal  with  it  as  a  revelation  is  to  make  God  a  being  too  repul- 
sive and  brutal  to  contemplate  for  one  moment  with  respect. 

He  either  did  or  did  not  tell  those  men  those  things.  Which 
will  you  accept  ? 

He  divided  men  into  two  classes.  Of  one  he  made  tyrants 
and  butchers  ;  of  the  other^  victims.  He  made  woman  weak  in 
order  that  she  might  be  the  more  easily  overcome  by  vice  ;  help- 
less^ in  order  that  she  might  the  more  easily  be  made  the  vic- 
tim of  brutal  lust  I  He  made  children  to  be  the  beasts  of  burden, 
the  human  sacrifices^  the  defenceless  property  of  criminals  and 
fiends.  He  did  these  things,  or  the  prophets  romanced  about 
it,  or  some  one  else  romanced  about  them.    Which  ? 

If  I  accept  the  former  alternative.  I  can  have  nothing  but 
loathing  and  contempt  for  the  Diety  and  his  follow^ers.  If  the 
latter,  it  clouds  the  character  of  ]io  one.  It  simply  places  the 
ignorance  of  the  past  on  the  same  plane  with  the  ignorance  of 
the  present.  It  rescues  the  reputation  of  the  Infinite  at  the 
trifling  expense  of  a  few  musty  fables. 

I  choose  the  latter  !  I  prefer  to  believe  either  that  a  few 
men  were  themselves  deceived,  or  that  they  tried  to  deceive 
others — it  does  not  much  matter  which.  I  prefer  to  adoj^t 
this  belief,  and  so  keep  the  character  of  even  a  supposititious 
God  above  reproach. 

If  we  accept  a  God  at  all  let  us  accept  an  honest  one. 

EVIDENCE  OF  FAITH. 

We  are  asked  to  be  as  fair  toward  the  evidence  of  Bible  wit- 
nesses as  we  are  toward  other  evidence.  AVe  are  told  that  we 
believe  a  great  deal  that  we  have  never  seen,  and  that  we  accept 
it  on  the  word  of  others  ;  that  we  have  never  seen  a  man  hung, 
but  that  Ave  believe  that  men  have  been  hung ;  we  never  saw 
Napoleon's  great  feats  of  generalship,  but  we  believe  in  them 


Evidence  of  Faith, 


63 


because  history  records  them.  Why  not  believe  in  the  Bible  as 
well  as  in  other  history  ?  Why  not^,  on  the  testimony  of  wit- 
nesses, believe  that  Christ  turned  w^ater  into  wine,  as  readily  as 
that  a  man  was  hung?  Why  not  accept  the  miracle  of  the 
loaves  and  fishes  on  evidence,  as  readily  as  the  victories  of 
Napoleon  ? 

Now  that  line  of  argument,  although  it  is  the  one  used  by 
and  for  theological  students,  is  entirely  illogical.  It  will  not 
work  with  people  who  think.    The  cases  are  not  parallel. 

We  believe  the  facts  of  history  and  the  occurrences  of  to-day 
not  solely  on  the  testimony  of  others,  but  because  they  are  in 
accord  with  common-sense  and  experience  and  judgment ; 
because  they  fall  within  the  range  of  possibility,  and  do  not 
antagonize  the  laws  of  nature.  We  know  a  man  can  be  hung. 
We  know  one  general  may  defeat  another.  We  are  asked  to 
believe  nothing  outside  of  reasonable  bounds.  Here  then  the 
only  thing  to  examine  is  the  credibility  of  the  witnesses. 

If,  however,  our  witnesses  told  us  that  whenever  Napoleon 
wanted  to  know  the  strength  of  an  enemy  he  flew  up  over  their 
camp  and  counted  their  men  ;  or  that  when  he  found  too 
many  he  prayed  down  fire  from  heaven  and  burned  them  up, 
we  should  dismiss  their  testimony  at  once  as  unworthy  of  far- 
ther notice.  We  should  know  that  they  were  deceived,  or  that 
they  were  trying  to  deceive  us.  We  should  know  that  Napoleon's 
real  means  of  estimating  the  strength  of  his  enemy  were  of  a 
different  nature,  and  that  he  did  not  resort  to  the  upper  air  and 
flit  about  at  will.  We  should  know  that  no  fire  was  prayed 
down,  and  that  although  soldiers  might  be  told  to  put  their 
trust  in  God,  the  little  addition — ^^and  keep  your  poAvder  dry'' 
— would  be  the  really  important  part  of  the  command. 

So  when  we  are  told  that  wine  w^as  made  out  of  water,  and 
bread  and  fish  out  of  nothing  in  large  quantities,  we  knoAV  that 
we  are  listening  to  statements  that  simply  go  out  of  the  field  of 
credible  testimony  into  the  realm  of  supreme  credulity.  Such 
assertions  require  you  to  believe  not  only  what  you  have  not 


64 


Vicarious  Atonement. 


seen^  but  what  all  experience  and  reason  tell  you  you  never 
can  see.  They  ask  you  not  only  to  believe  in  a  past  event,  but 
in  a  past  event  outside  of  all  reason,  beyond  all  experience, 
incapable  of  demonstration,  unsupported  by  nature,  opposed  to 
all  natural  laws — beneath  the  realm  of  reason,  out  of  the  light 
of  experience,  under  the  shadow  of  superstition  ! 

The  great  electric  light  of  the  intellect  is  turned  off  at  the 
church  door.  On  one  day  out  of  every  seven  the  human  lamps 
enter  in  utter  darkness  a  field  of  superstition.  During  six  days 
the  light  is  turned  full  on  the  world  of  commerce,  science,  art, 
and  literature,  and  these  glow  and  grow  and  are  examined  by 
its  rays.  When,  however,  the  signal  tolls  from  the  steeple  on 
the  seventh  day,  the  light  is  turned  off  for  that  day,  and  for 
that  topic  alone  ;  and  then  there  is  brought  out  once  more  the 
old  tallow  candle  of  ignorance  that  hides  in  shadow  the  cob- 
webs of  undeveloped  thought ! 

Use  your  noblest  powers  of  thought  freely  in  the  bank  ;  strain 
and  develop  your  ability  to  improve  and  control  in  the  engine- 
room  ;  train  and  exert  your  judgment  in  literature  and  art ; 
push  and  brighten  and  sharpen  your  reason  in  science  or  politi- 
cal economy. 

In  the  practical  affairs  of  hfe  faith  will  not  help  you.  It  is 
childish  and  insecure.  It  will  not  honor  your  cheque  ;  it  will 
not  prevent  the  broken  engine  from  hurling  its  human  com- 
panion into  eternity.  It  will  not  prove  the  rotundity  of  the 
earth,  nor  establish  a  sound  financial  basis  for  a  nation.  In  all 
such  matters  it  leads  to  nothing  but  ignorance  and  disaster. 
In  theology  it  is  the  one  element  of  light. 

As  a  test  and  an  aid  in  this  world,  it  is  puerile  and  trifling ; 
but  the  depths  of  the  Great  Beyond  it  fathoms  to  a  nicety.  It 
giA'-es  no  grasp  upon  the  truths  of  Time  ;  but  it  is  the  all-suf- 
ficient hold  on  Eternity.  It  leads  to  the  discovery  of  no  impor- 
tant principle  here  ;  but  it  holds  the  keys  to  the  secret  cham- 
bers of  divinity  !  It  is  an  attribute  of  childish  development 
now.    It  is  to  indicate  infinite  mental  superiority  hereafter ! 


Did  He  Talk. 


65 


It  is  a  strange  philosophy  which  asserts  that  a  faculty  which  is 
a  hindrance  to  superiority  in  this  world  is  the  one  thing  needful 
for  the  soul  of  man  ! 

Give  me  the  brain  that  dares  to  think  !  Give  me  the  mind 
that  grasps  with  herculean  power  the  rocks  that  crush  the 
treasures  of  intellectual  growth^  and  tears  them  from  their 
foundation  !  Give  me  the  mind  that  dares  to  step  from  the 
fallen  stones,  that  leaps  from  rock  to  rock  past  the  dark  rift 
torn  in  the  superstitions  of  ages  past,  and  that,  standing  on 
the  farthest  crag,  waits  and  watches  for  the  breakmg  light ! 
He  can  trust  his  future  whose  present  scorns  stagnation  ! 

DID  HE  TALK? 

In  olden  times — in  the  times  of  the  Bible — men  believed  that 
animals  sometimes  used  human  language,  and  that  beasts  were 
wiser  than  their  masters.  I^m  not  now  going  to  question  that 
belief,  but  still  I  don^t  think  that  nowadays  one-half  of  us 
would  take  the  word  of  a  horse  on  any  important  subject.  You 
must  remember,  however,  that  it  took  an  ass  to  know  an  angel 
at  first  sight  in  Balaam^s  time.  Balaam  never  suspected  that 
there  was  an  angel  in  his  path  until  that  ass  told  him  !  In 
those  days,  on  a  little  matter  like  that,  the  word  of  any  beast 
seemed  to  be  taken  as  good  evidence. 

But  let  a  mule  jam  his  rider^s  foot  against  a  wall,  nowadays, 
and  then  lie  down  under  him,  and  there  is  not  one  man  in  ten 
who  would  associate  that  fact  in  his  mind  with  the  presence  of 
an  angel.  I  suppose,  however,  there  wasn^t  as  much  known 
about  mules  then  as  there  is  now ;  and  most  asses  were  of  a 
more  pious  turn  of  mind. 

I  don't  suppose  there  is  one  intelligent  man  in  this  city  who 
believes  that  story,  and  yet  he  is^not  a  good  Christian  if  he 
questions  it. 

Show  me  a  locality  where  actual  belief — where  old  time  ortho- 
doxy— is  looked  upon  as  a  requisite  of  good  citizenship  and 
standing  in  society,  and  you  will  show  me  a  place  where  intel- 


66 


Vicarious  Atofiement. 


lectual  development  and  rapid  progress  have  died  or  gone  to 
sleep  ! 

The  most  ignorant  and  backward  parts  of  this  great  country^ 
the  localities  where  Congress  is  asking  for  better  and  more 
secular  schools  to  be  established  as  a  means  of  safety  to  the 
state^  are  situated  in  the  very  States  where  orthodoxy  holds 
absolute  sway.  In  those  states  a  man  is  looked  upon  as  a  very 
dangerous  character  if  he  questions  the  accuracy  of  that  story 
about  those  three  hot-house  plants^  Shadrach,  Meshach^  and 
Abednego.  Yes,  the  people  of  that  pious  region  would  be 
afraid  of  a  man  who  was  wicked  enough  to  laugh  at  that  yarn  ; 
and  yet  do  you  believe  there  is  a  man  in  this  city  who  could 
make  you  believe  it  ?  And  you  don^t  look  dangerous  either  ; 
and  I  don^t  think  that  I  do. 

It  seems  that  when  they  used  to  run  ashore  for  big  scare- 
stories^  they  just  poked  up  the  fire  and  went  into  the  blast- 
furnace business — here  and  hereafter.  But — seeing  that  a  fur- 
nace— a  real  one — heated  seven  times  hotter  than  it  takes  to 
melt  iron,  did  not  injure  those  three  tropical  innocents — did 
not  even  singe  their  eye-brows — it  does  look  a  little  as  if  we 
should  stand  a  pretty  fair  show  with  the  spiritual  fuel  they 
now  promise  us  hereafter.  Still  I  must  say  I  don^t  believe  I 
should  like  the  climate. 

Speaking  of  Bible  arguments,  I  must  tell  you  of  a  new  one  I 
heard  recently.  A  gentleman  acquaintance  of  mine  asked  a 
colored  woman,  who  had  applied  to  him  for  money  to  help 
build  a  colored  people's  church,  whether  she  thought  God  was 
black  or  white.  She  replied  that  the  Bible  implied  that  he 
was  black — that  it  said,  And  His  wool  shall  be  whiter  than 
snow    and  that  wJiite  men  don't  have  wool ! 

WHAT  YOU  MAY  THIKK. 

Show  me  a  grade  of  society  that  buckles  its  little  belt  of  belief 
and  faith  around  its  members,  and  you  will  show  me  a  collec- 
tion of  hopeless  mediocres.    The  thinkers  move  out  or  die 


What  You  May  Tliinh. 


out.  They  object  to  being  fossilized.  They  decline  to  go 
down  to  history  as  physical  members  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
and  mental  members  of  the  third. 

I  would  rather  have  the  right  to  put  on  my  monument,  ^'^She 
was  abreast  of  her  time/^  than  have  all  the  sounding  texts  and 
all  the  feathered  tribes  chiseled  upon  it.  I  would  prefer  that 
it  be  said  of  me,  ^^She  was  a  good  woman  because  she  had  a 
pure  heart/^  than  to  have  this  record  :  ^'^She  was  a  Christian. 
She  was  afraid  of  hell.  She  cast  her  burdens  on  the  Lord,  and 
went  to  heaven. 

You  have  been  told,  Blessed  are  they  who  die  in  the  Lord.^^ 
Eather  let  us  say,     Blessed  are  they  who  live  clean  lives. 

But  the  Church  does  not  allow  you  to  regulate  your  lives  by 
what  you  believe  to  be  right.  It  always  did  and  it  always  will 
hate  a  thinker.  It  proposes  to  do  the  mental  labor  for  great 
minds  by  means  of  brains  large  enough  to  hold  nothing  but 
Faith.  It  says,  I  cannot,  and  you  shall  not  outgrow  the  past. 
The  measure  of  my  capacity  shall  be  the  limit  of  your  attain- 
ment.^^ 

The  laws  of  a  nation  presume  to  regulate  only  what  you 
may  do.  The  Church  is  kind  enough  to  say  what  you  may 
think.  It  proposes  to  control  the  mental  condition  of  every 
man  and  woman  for  time  and  eternity,  and  its  first  command  is 
that  we  shall  not  grow. 

It  seems  to  me  rather  a  queer  admission  to  make,  but  the 
Church  says  that  a  child  or  a  fool  knows  quite  enough  for  its 
purpose— and  it  does  not  seem  to  be  my  place  to  question  that 
fact.  Now  that  may  be  all  very  well  for  the  child  and  the 
fool,  but  it  is  rather  binding  on  the  rest  of  us. 

Once  in  a  while  a  minister  outgrows  the  doctrines  that 
were  big  enough  for  him  in  his  youth  ;  but  that  minister, 
though  his  life  be  as  pure  and  his  character  as  sweet  as  a  flower, 
would  be  safer  to  be  cast  into  the  sea  than  that  this  instrument 
of  torture,  this  court  of  injustice,  should  discover  that  he  had 
laid  aside  the  outfit  of  his  undeveloped  years.    His  mind  may 


68 


Vicarious  Atonemmit. 


have  grown  to  be  a  giant  in  strength^,  but  it  must  be  compressed 
into  the  nut-shell  of  superstition — dwarfed  to  the  capacity  of 
intellectual  pigmies. 

Christ  was  a  thinker,  a  man  of  progress^  an  infidel^  a  man 
who  outgrew  the  Church  of  his  time ;  and  the  Church  of  his 
time  crucified  him.  Those  who  oppose  the  spirit  of  religious 
stagnation  to-day  meet  the  same  spirit  in  the  Church  that 
Christ  met,  and  receive  the  same  treatment  so  far  as  the  law 
will  permit. 

It  is  a  sentiment  as  true  as  it  is  beautiful  that  asks  us  to 
reverence  the  great  men,  the  thinkers  of  the  past ;  but  it  is  no 
mark  of  respect  to  them  to  rest  forever  over  their  graves.  We 
show  our  respect  and  our  appreciation  better  by  a  spirit  of  re- 
search that  reaches  beyond  them,  than  by  a  simple  admiration 
which  takes  their  gifts  and  dies.  The  lessons  they  left  were 
not  alone  lessons  of  memory  and  acceptance^  but  examples  of 
effort  and  progress. 

A  pupil  who  stops  content  with  his  teacher's  last  words  is  no 
great  credit  either  to  himself  or  to  his  master.  If  he  has 
learned  only  to  accept,  his  lesson  is  only  begun  ;  and  until  he 
knows  that  he  must  investigate,  his  education  is  that  of  a  child, 
his  development  that  of  a  clown. 

It  is  no  compliment  to  Christ,  the  man  of  progress  1800  years 
ago,  that  his  followers  clip  the  wings  of  thought.  He  struck 
for  freedom  from  ecclesiastical  bondage.  He  added  a  new  link 
to  the  chain  of  intellectual  growth,  and  his  followers  have 
riveted  it  back  to  the  immovable  rock  of  superstition.  He 
offered  a  key  to  open  the  door  of  individual  liberty.  They 
have  wrapped  it  in  the  folds  of  ignorance  and  laid  it  in  the 
closet  of  fear.  He  said  in  effect,  When  you  have  outgrown  the 
Church,  leave  it  and  bless  the  world.''  They  say,  Leave  it 
and  be  damned."  For  what  is  a  Christian  to-day  without  his 
hell  ?  The  chief  objection  I  hear  offered  to  the  last  arrange- 
ments made  for  us  by  the  revisers  is  that  they  left  out  some  of 
the  hell,  and  gave  the  part  they  kept  a  poetical  name. 


Intellectual  Gag-Law. 


69 


INTELLECTUAL  GAG-LAW. 

When  the  day  comes  when  offences  against  the  intellect  are 
deemed  as  great  crimes  as  offences  against  the  person,  intellec- 
tual gag-law  will  meet  with  no  more  respect  than  lynch-law 
does  to-day,  and  will  be  recognized  as  the  expression  of  an 
undeveloped  moral  and  social  condition.  Choking  an  opinion 
into  or  out  of  a  man^s  mind  is  no  more  respectable  than  the 
same  argument  applied  to  his  body. 

Any  form  of  faith,  any  religion,  that  has  the  vicarious  ele- 
ment in  it,  is  an  insult  to  the  intellect.  It  is  based  upon  the 
idea  of  a  God  of  revenge,  a  ruler  infamously  unjust.  It  is  a 
system  utterly  ineffectual  without  the  wanton  sacrifice  of  help- 
less innocence  under  fangs  of  beastly  cruelty — a  revenge  that 
has  no  thought  of  the  redress  of  wrong  by  its  punishment — a 
revenge  that  simply  requires  a  victim — and  blood  ! 

Even  with  those  two  elements  of  the  plan  it  is  still  impotent 
until  it  has  appealed  to  the  basest  element  in  every  human 
breast — the  willingness  to  accept  happiness  that  is  bought  by 
the  agony  of  another  !  It  is  too  abjectly  selfish  and  groveling 
to  command  the  least  respect  from  a  noble  character  or  a  great, 
tender  soul.  It  severs  the  ties  of  affection  without  compunc- 
tion. It  destroys  all  loyalty.  It  says,  No  matter  what  be- 
comes of  my  loved  ones — those  who  would  die  to  help  me — I 
must  save  my  soul.^^  Without  the  use  of  the  microscope,  how- 
ever, such  a  soul  would  never  know  whether  it  was  saved  or  not. 

What  sort  of  a  soul  would  it  be  that  could  have  a  heaven 
apart  from  those  it  loved  ?  It  would  not  be  big  enough  to  save, 
and  its  heaven  would  not  be  good  enough  to  have. 

I  prefer  the  philosophy,  the  dignified  loyalty  and  love  for 
the  dead  of  the  old  Goth,  the  captive  warrior  whom  the  Chris- 
tians persuaded  to  be  baptized.  As  he  stood  by  the  font  he 
asked  the  bishop,  Where  are  the  souls  of  my  heathen  ances- 
tors?^^   The  bishop,  with  great  alacrity,  replied,  ^^In  hell.^^ 


70 


Vicarious  Atonement. 


The  brave  old  warrior^  the  loyal  Goth,  drew  his  skins  about 
him  and  said,  I  would  prefer,  if  you  do  not  object,  to  go  to 
my  people     and  he  left  unbaptized. 

That  was  heathen  philosophy  ;  but  I  think  I  prefer  it  to  the 
Christianity  of  a  devout  man,  a  Sunday-school  superintendent, 
whom  I  know.  He  is  a  great  light  in  a  Christian  church  to- 
day. He  worships  the  beautiful  provisions  of  vicarious  atone- 
ment. He  refused  his  mother  her  dying  wish,  and  on  the 
following  Sunday  atoned  for  the  inhuman  act  by  singing  with 
unusual  unction,  How  gentle  God's  commands, and  reading 
with  devout  fervor,  The  Lord  is  my  shepherd,  /  shall  not 
want.''  His  mother,  who  had  the  same  shepherd,  had  wanted 
for  much.  She  even  wanted  for  a  stone  to  mark  her  grave, 
because  the  money  she  had  left  for  that  purpose  her  holy  son 
thought  best  to  use,  vicariously,  upon  himself.  That  man 
believes  in  the  Bible  absolutely.  He  is  a  good  Christian,  and  he 
abhors  an  infidel  !  He  knows  he  is  going  to  heaven  because  he 
has  faith  in  Christ,  and  Christ  had  an  extra  stab  on  his  account. 
He  is  willing  to  take  his  heavenly  home  through  the  blood  of 
Christ,  and  his  earthly  one  out  of  the  pockets  of  a  dead  mother. 
The  blood  of  the  murdered  Nazarene  obliterates  the  infamy  of 
his  acts  over  her  dishonored  grave. 

And  this  is  perfectly  consistent  !  A  religion  of  faith,  a  relig- 
ion that  gets  its  good  vicariously  and  shifts  its  sins  and  re- 
sponsibilities on  to  the  past,  is  a  religion  that  can  never  elevate 
character  ;  it  simply  makes  a  man  more  intensely  ivliat  lie  was 
before.  It  is  all  self,  self,  self.  Think  of  the  infinitesimal 
smallness,  the  irredeemable  worthlessness,  the  unutterable 
meanness  of  a  soul  that  could  forsake  those  it  had  loved,  and 
be  happy  believing  that  they  were  suffering  and  eternally  lost ! 

Yet  who  does  not  know  men  who  go  tramping  about  the 
country,  living  on  the  clmrity  of  their  dupes,  and  declaring  that, 
^'the  Lord  is  their  Shepherd,  they  shall  not  want,"  whose 
families  want  for  almost  every  comfort  of  life?  And  this  is 
true  orthodox  doctrine.    ^^Ye  shall  forsake  father,  mother, 


The  Vicarious  Theory  the  Cause  of  Crime,  71 


wife,  and  children/^  for  what? — to  follow  me  \  Think  of 
the  infamy  of  it  ! 

If  that  is  the  kind  of  souls  that  go  to  heaven,  I  shall  do  all 
I  can  to  keep  mine  amongst  more  respectable  spirits.  I  will  go 
with  the  Goth.  I  could  suffer  in  hell  (if  there  were  such  a  place) 
with  those  I  love,  and  keep  my  self-respect. 

If  I  believed  I  could  be  happy  in  heaven  with  my  loved  ones  in 
agony  below — if  I  believed  it  of  myself — there  is  no  vile,  slime- 
covered  reptile  on  earth  that  I  would  so  loathe  !  Forsake 
father,  mother,  husband,  children  to  save  my  soul !  Never  !  I 
will  go  with  my  people  ! 

THE  VICAKIOUS  THEORY  THE  CAUSE  OF  CRIME. 

This  idea  of  vicarious  atonement  has  encouraged  injustice  and 
crime  of  every  kind.  Out  of  eighty-four  men  who  have  been 
hanged  recently,  seventy-one  have  gone  directly  to  heaven.  They 
asked  the  assembled  spectators  to  be  as  good  as  they  conven- 
iently could,  and  meet  them  on  the  other  shore.  Their  spiri- 
tual advisers  administered  the  holy  sacrament,  and  assured 
them  that  they  were  lambs  of  the  fold,^^  and  that  a  robe  and 
a  harp  awaited  them  at  the  right  hand  of  God. 

Just  imagine  a  lamb  in  a  robe,  playing  on  a  harp  !  A  lamb 
with  wings,  a  harp,  a  long  white  robe,  and  golden  slippers  seems 
to  me  an  object  to  arouse  the  sympathy  of  a  demon.  Poor 
lamb !  He  would  wish  himself  a  goat  every  hour  of  the  day. 

There  is  an  implied  crime  in  the  very  word  vicarious.  If  it 
means  anything  it  means  the  suffering  of  innocence  to  atone  for 
guilt.  It  means  that  one  crime  is  condoned  by  the  commission 
of  another — a  deliberate  one.  It  means  that  truth  must  die  in 
order  that  dishonor  may  live.  It  substitutes  vengeance  for 
justice.  It  does  not  seek  to  protect  society  by  checking  villany  ; 
it  seeks  the  safety  of  the  criminal  by  a  shifting  of  responsibility. 
If  the  framers  of  human  laws  were  no  wiser  that  the  revealers 
of  divine  law,  no  nation  could  live,  no  family  would  be  secure, 
no  justice  possible.     [See  Appendix  S.] 


72 


Vicarious  Atonement, 


Not  long  ago  the  New  York  Lidependent  contained  an  article 
against  Sarah  Bernhart,  calhng  her  a  lewd  woman and 
against  her  play  because  it  did  not  contain  good  morals.  The 
same  paper  contained  an  article  against  George  Eliot's  works^ 
and  said  that  the  Mormon  Congressman  is  a  disgrace  to  all 
America  because  he  is  a  polygamist.  All  these  things  by  a 
man  who  swallows  Da^id  and  Lot  whole^  and  has  Solomon  pose 
as  the  summit  of  all  wisdom  !  All  this  by  a  man  who  builds 
his  life  on  the  word  of  Moses^  and  denies  to  others  the  right  to 
object  to  his  code  of  morals  or  his  version  of  heavenly  wisdom 
and  divine  direction  ! 

I  should  like  a  little  consistency.  The  Christian  who  rails 
against  polygamy^  and  at  the  same  time  poses  in  morals 
with  a  bible  in  his  hand,  is  a  man  who  saws  his  own  legs  from 
under  him,  and  still  expects  us  to  believe  that  he  has  legs, 
which  we  might  possibly  do  if  only  our  sight  were  aided  by 
faith.  As  long  as  my  eyes  hold  out,  I'll  stick  to  unaided 
vision  ;  after  that,  spectacles  or  faith  according  to  circum- 
stances. 

When  goodness  and  virtue  are  measured,  not  by  a  book,  but 
by  our  own  acts  toward  each  other  ;  when  a  man's  character  is 
judged  by  the  amount  of  joy  he  gives  to  his  household  ;  when 
a  happy  laugh  from  his  children  and  a  bright  smile  from  his 
wife  greet  him  as  often  as  he  colnes  home  ;  when  these  are  taken 
as  the  evidence  of  a  good  man,  deacons  will  go  out  of  fashion. 
Meek,  tired,  persecuted-looking  wives  will  not  listen  to  a  cant- 
ing husband  and  believe  that  he  is  a  holy  man,  when  they 
know  that  he  is  a  bad  husband  and  a  tyrannical  father. 

There  is  not  any  way  that  I  know  of  to  make  a  home  happy 
vicariously.  No  confession  of  faith  can  take  pain  out  of  a 
mother's  heart.  No  testimony  of  the  spirit  "  can  make  love 
and  beauty  in  a  home  where  the  heathen  "  hold  the  first  place, 
and  foreign  missions  get  tangled  up  in  the  children's  hair.  No 
man  accustomed  to  a  high  intellectual  temperature  can  keep 
warm  by  theological  fires.    No  man  whose  brain  is  king  can 


Revision, 


73 


ever  again  recognize  the  authority  of  this  mere  undisciplined 
sentiment. 

KEVISION^. 

As  a  system  Christianity  has  had  its  day.  Long  ago  it  may 
have  served  a  good  purpose,  but  after  eighteen  hundred  years 
it  is  worn  threadbare  and  useless.  If  some  of  its  milder  tenets 
still  cling  to  and  fit  our  vast  mediocrity,  it  is  equally  certain 
that  the  intellectual  giants  have  moulted  it  as  the  birds  moult 
their  plumage  in  a  dying  year,  and  have  taken  on  the  bright 
new  garments  of  higher  thought,  the  spring  plumage  of  intel- 
lectual liberty. 

When  I  heard  that  the  Bible  was  going  to  be  revised  I  felt 
very  glad,  because  I  thought  there  was  a  wide  field  of  useful- 
ness open  to  somebody  right  there  ;  and  I  concluded  to  do  all 
I  could  to  help  it  along.  I  understood  that  they  wanted  the 
substance  retained  as  it  was,  with  the  language  made  more  as 
we  use  language  now. 

So  I  began  my  revision  in  this  way  :  Good  morning,  Moses, 
I  hear  that  you  have  some  gods  in  this  country.  Do  you  know 
anything  about  it  ? 

'^^Oh,  yes,  I^m  the  head  god^s  head  man.^^ 

^^You  are?^^ 

^^Yes,  I  had  a  talk  with  the  head  god — the  top  one  of  the 
three  (w^e  are  down  to  three  here  now),  and  he  told  me  to  tell 
people  what  a  good  god  he  is,  and  that  they  must  all  praise  him 
up  for  it. " 

"  He  did  !    Well  is  that  all  he  said  ? 

^^Oh,  no,  he  told  me  to  tell  them  that  he  is  the  only  God, 
and  is  the  kind  father  of  all,  and  loves  all  alike,  and  that  they 
must  all  just  trust  in  him  and  he  will  take  good  care  of  them.^^ 
thought  you  said  a  while  ago  that  there  were  three  of 
these  gods  ;  now  this  one  says  he  is  the  only  one.  Is  there 
trouble  in  the  cabinet  ? 

"  No,  there  are  three,  but  there  is  one.  See 


74 


Vicarious  Ato7iement. 


Well^  no,  I  can^t  say  that  I  do.  But  no  matter,  the  rest 
of  that  about  the  father  business  was  pretty  good.  That  was 
the  best  I  ever  heard.  But  do  you  know  that  the  very  last 
man  I  talked  with  said  that  this  god  was  partial  to  some  folks 
and  treated  some  others  pretty  shabbily. 

^^Oh,  that  is  not  so;  my  god  is  no  respecter  of  persons; 
that's  his  very  strongest  hold.  He  treats  rich  and  poor  just 
alike,  only  if  anything  he  leans  a  little  toward  the  poor.^^ 

^^Tliat  is  pretty  clever.  But  what  else  did  he  tell  you  in 
that  talk?^^ 

"  Well,  he  told  me  to  tell  the  people,  ^  Thou  shalt  not  kill  ;^ 
and  afterwards,  at  another  time,  he  told  me  to  take  a  lot  of  my 
men,  and  go  over  there  to  that  town  just  across,  and  kill  all 
the  men  and  boys  I  could  find,  and  if  they  fought  hard  for 
their  homes,  and  I  seemed  to  be  getting  the  worst  of  it  for  a 
little  while,  not  to  be  afraid,  he'd  be  with  me,  and  he'd  see 
that  I  came  out  all  right.  Oh,  he's  the  gayest  old  god  you  ever 
saw  to  help  in  a  fight." 

Well,  yes,  that  was  pretty  clever  to  you  ;  but  isn't  he  the 
god  of  that  village  too  ! " 

^^Oh,  yes  ;  but  you  see  one  of  the  men  that  lives  over  there 
went  and  worshipped  another  god  one  day,  and  this  one  didn't 
like  it.'^ 

^^I  see  ;  but  if  he  treats  them  all  that  way,  don't  you  think 
it  is  rather  natural  that  they  should  go  and  hunt  up  another 
god  to  admire  ?  '^ 

Well,  while  I  was  waiting  for  Moses  to  answer  this  question, 
I  heard  another  man  say  that  only  a  day  or  two  previously  this 
very  fellow  had  burned  up  their  homes,  and  murdered  a  good 
many  people  who  had  never  injured  him  ;  and  that  he  had 
dashed  out  the  lirains  of  the  innocent  children,  and  had  act- 
ually sold  the  sweet,  pure  young  girls  to  his  brutal  soldiers. 
Since  I  heard  that,  my  mind  has  been  so  occupied  with  some 
other  little  matters  that  my  revision  has  not  gone  any  farther, 
and  somebody  else  has  got  one  out ;  so  I  don't  know  that  I  shall 


Tlie  OlmrcVs  Money-Box, 


ever  finish  mine.  It  does  not  seem  to  be  very  encouraging 
work  any  way ;  and  I  am  afraid  that  people  would  find  fault 
with  its  scholarship  if  it  should  be  finished.  Theological 
scholarship  and  common-sense  always  did  disagree.  A  man 
who  is  well  vaccinated  with  either  will  never  catch  the  other. 

THE  church's  MOKEY-BOX. 

The  Church  used  to  keep  a  box  about  four  feet  long  and  two 
feet  wide  which  it  called  the  sacred  ark  of  God.  It  was  certain 
death  for  any  man  not  a  priest  to  touch  that  box.  It  is  sup- 
posed that  they  kept  in  it  gold  and  jewels  which  they  extorted 
from  their  dupes,  and  that  for  fear  of  robbery  they  made  super- 
stition their  banker.  Well,  they  had  to  move  that  jewelry- 
box  once  for  some  reason,  and  it  is  not  said  that  anything 
happened  to  the  men  who  put  it  on  the  cart ;  but  as  the  man 
who  drove  the  oxen — in  one  place  it  says  that  they  were 
oxen,  in  another  that  they  were  cows  with  young  calves,  and 
you  will  be  damned  if  you  don't  believe  both — anyhow, 
as  the  driver  walked  along  in  horrid  fear  lest  something 
should  happen  to  that  ark  of  God,  the  oxen  shied,  and  the  ark 
toppled,  and  instinctively  the  driver  put  out  his  hand  to  steady 
the  sacred  thing.  Well,  you  would  think  that  any  sane  man, 
any  reasonable  being,  would  have  commended  him  for  it ;  but 
no  !  Jehovah  struck  him  dead  for  his  pains.  Why  ?  Because 
that  box  was  so  supremely  sacred.  Supreme  nonsense  !  Sup- 
pose he  had  not  touched  it  and  it  had  fallen  ?  What  then  ? 
Most  likely  Jehovah  would  then  have  struck  him  dead  for  not 
touching  it.  It  strikes  me  that  the  only  reasonable,  sensible 
bemg  connected  with  that  whole  story  was  the  driver,  the  man 
they  abuse,  the  man  the  priests  murdered,  I  suspect  because 
lie  discovered  what  was  in  that  ark,  and  threatened  to  expose 
the  humbug. 

Whenever  any  man  uses  judgment  and  common-sense  the 
Church  calls  him  wicked  and  dangerous.  They  say  he 
"  touches  with  unholy  hands  holy  things  ; ''  and  when  he  dies, 


76 


Vicarious  Atonement, 


whether  his  death  was  expedited  or  otherwise^  they  say  God 
killed  him. 

Now^  if  God  did  kill  that  man  for  touching  the  ark  to  save 
it  from  falling,  what  do  you  think  of  him — as  a  God  ?  I  can 
tell  you  what  you  would  think  of  him  as  a  man.  You  would 
think  he  was  a  ruffian  and  a  murderer — that  is  what  you  would 
think  of  him  as  a  man. 

Truly  gods  are  made  of  poor  stuff.  If  I  can^t  have  a  god 
that  is  nobler  and  better  and  truer  and  kinder  than  the  very 
best  man  I  ever  saw,  then  I  don^t  want  any  god  at  all.  And 
candor  forbids  me  to  state  that  I  ever  saw,  heard,  or  read  of 
any  such  a  god.  All  the  gods  I  ever  read  or  heard  of  have 
fallen  infinitely  below  a  few  men  I  know. 

Jehovah,  it  seems  to  me,  is  hardly  an  average  god,  even  as 
gods  go.  He  believed  in  polygamy.  He  believed  in  slavery. 
He  was  a  murderer — killed  52,000  people  once  because  some- 
body looked  into  that  four-by-two  box  that  he  thought  so 
much  of.  Human  life  was  not  worth  a  copper  in  his  neighbor- 
hood. He  was  always  in  a  rage  about  something,  and  you 
never  knew  when  he  would  ^^get  the  drop  on  you  because 
somebody  else  had  ruffled  his  temper.  Any  man  was  liable, 
as  the  Irishman  said,  ^"^to  wake  up  any  morning  and  find  him- 
self burned  to  ashes  in  his  bed,^^  because  one  of  his  neigh- 
bors had  been  wicked  enough  to  lend  a  five-dollar  green- 
back to  one  of  the  Philistines,  or  had  eaten  a  gum-drop  in  the 
dark  of  the  moon,  or  committed  some  other  awful  crime  like 
that. 

SHALL  PROGRESS  STOP? 

In  its  day  the  Bible  was  all  very  well,  no  doubt.  It  was  the 
expression  of  the  best  that  the  Jewish  people  then  knew  in 
morals.  In  his  time  Christ  was  a  great  reformer  and  a  brave 
man.  His  philosophy  was  then  an  onward  spring,  and  lie 
detested  the  shams  of  the  Church. 

But  with  the  knowledge  we  have  to-day  we  should  call  that 


Shall  Progress  Stop? 


77 


man  a  lunatic  who  tried  to  bind  medical  science  by  the  teach- 
ings of  that  age^  and  maintained  that  when  a  man  was  sick  he 
had  a  devil^  and  that  if  he  got  worse  he  had  a  whole  flock  of 
them.  Yet  Christ  thought  that.  We  should  call  the  man 
utterly  insane  who  insisted  that  Joshua  gave  us  the  last  light 
that  is  ever  to  be  thrown  on  astronomy.  We  should  simply 
look  with  pity  on  one  who  should  try  to  convince  us  that  the 
legal  profession  ought  to  be  bound  by  the  laws  of  Moses ;  and 
we  know  that  any  nation  that  attempted  to  act  under  his 
guidance  would  be  soon  convinced  by  the  unerring  voice  of 
foreign  cannon  that  somebody  had  made  a  mistake. 

Science  has  grown.  Philosophy  has  developed.  Interna- 
tional law  has  sprung  up.  In  religion  alone  we  are  asked  to 
accept  the  standard  of  morality  and  honor  of  ages  that  are 
dead — to  take  as  the  last  word  of  wisdom  the  reformer's  code  of 
eighteen  hundred  years  ago.  We  may  grow  in  all  else  ;  in  this 
we  must  stand  still.  We  may  use  a  text-book  on  Nature^  Medi- 
cine, Law,  or  Mechanics,  until  by  its  aid  we  pass  beyond  its 
knowledge  to  a  higher  ;  but  in  morals  and  religion  the  book  that 
was  a  light  to  the  ages  of  ignorance  and  superstition,  and  the 
production  of  its  brain,  must  still  be  the  sole  illuminator  of 
a  world  made  wise  and  critical  and  thoughtful  by  science 
and  deep  experience.  The  fisherman's  lantern,  although  use- 
ful in  its  day,  cannot  guide  us  while  we  stand  in  the  glare  of 
electricity.  Why  stand  persistently  with  our  faces  westward, 
and  gaze  at  the  declining  light,  crying  out  impotently  and 
hopelessly  as  we  see  it  grow  dim  and  vanish  ? 

Our  wise  men  have  kept  steadily  onward,  guided  by  the  light 
of  the  breaking  dawn  ;  and  with  their  faces  to  the  East  their 
star  has  never  set.  The  fishermen's  light  has  sunk  below  the 
horizon,  leaving  behind  it  the  glow  of  honest  labor  and  earnest 
effort  to  keep  their  memory  bright.  The  scientist's  star  has  risen, 
and  with  no  claim  that  it  is  even  yet  the  highest  light — the 
final  promise,  it  throws  its  rays  of  knowledge,  its  beams  of 
hope,  far  into  the  future,  and  bids  us  follow^  leaving  the  cold 


78 


Vicarious  Atonement. 


embers  of  the  dead  past  for  the  warmth  and  light  of  the  living 
future. 

The  hope  of  the  past  is  the  despair  of  the  future.  Stagna- 
tion is  death.  In  movement  and  thought  alone  is  progress. 
The  wealth  of  the  world  is  the  brain  of  the  scholar. 

The  past  is  dead  ;  peace  to  its  ashes.  The  future  is  ours  to 
form  on  new  models ;  models  deformed  by  past  superstitions, 
or  models  though  faulty,  instinct  with  true  freedom.  You 
are  the  jury,  what  is  the  verdict  ? 


HISTORICAL  FACTS  AND  THEOLOGI- 
CAL FICTIONS. 


CHURCH  FICTIONS. 

IT  is  one  of  the  glittering  fictions  of  the  Church  that  to  her 
civilization  is  due,*  and  that  it  is  to  her  benign  influence 
and  direction  alone  that  woman  has  been  advanced  to  her  pres- 
ent position  in  the  social  scale  ;  that  without  the  Bible  and  the 
Church  the  status  of  woman  in  Christian  countries  would  be 
lower  and  her  lot  harder. 

1st.  To  prove  this  claim  she  directs  attention  to  the  status  of 
woman  in  several  non-Christian  countries,  and  compares  the 
degradation  and  hardship  she  there  endures  to  the  position  of 
woman  to-day  in  America,  England,  and  France. 

2d.  The  Church  claims  the  credit  of  originating  and  sus- 
taining the  various  steps  of  progress  by  which  woman  has  been 
elevated.  She  claims  to  have  originated  and  to  sustain  the  idea 
that  woman  is  man's  equal,  and  to  recognize  her  as  such  in  the 
Church. 

3d.  She  points  with  pride  to  the  superior  education  and  intel- 
ligence of  the- women  of  Christian  countries,  and  contrasts  this 
intellectual  altitude  with  that  of  women  elsewhere.  She  says 
that  women  owe  their  superior  opportunities  of  education  and 
advancement  to  their  religion. 

4th.  But  above  all  the  clergy  attempt  to  silence  those  who 
ask  questions,  by  calling  attention  to  the  superior  legal  status 
*  See  Appendix  T. 


80  Historical  Facts  and  Theological  Fictions. 


of  woman  in  Christian  countries^  and  asserting  that  the  Church 
secured  this^  and  that  it  made  7narriage  honorable  and  home  a 
possibility, 

5th.  The  clergy  claim  that  the  Bible  is  woman's  best  friend 
and  staunchest  defender,  and  that  it  is  the  originator  of 
morality. 

HISTORICAL  FACTS. 

"  The  moment  there  is  fixation,  petrification  and  death  ensue.*' 
**  Profound  sincerity  is  the  only  basis  of  character." — Emerson, 

CIVILIZATION". 

We  are  told  that  our  superior  civilization  and  high  moral 
tone  are  due  to  Christianity.  I  think  that  this  is  not  true. 
The  whole,  or  at  least  much  the  larger  and  foundation  part  of 
the  question  of  civilization — where  it  shall  grow  and  where  only 
live,  where  it  shall  drag  and  where  scarcely  exist — seems  to  me 
to  be  decided  primarily  by  environment,  the  basis  of  which  is 
climate  and  soil. 

Where  the  climate  and  soil  are  most  favorable  to  the  highest 
development ;  where  the  environment  is  neither  too  hard  nor 
too  indulgent ;  where  man  is  neither  enervated  by  heat  and 
the  absence  of  necessity  to  labor,  nor  stunted  by  cold  and  hard- 
ship and  the  ever-present  necessity  to  search  or  labor  for  food 
and  warmth;  there  will  be  the  highest  types  and  forms  of 
civilization*. 

If  the  Buddhist  religion  had  chanced  to  be  the  one  that  in 
the  process  of  events  took  root  in  the  climate  and  soil  where 
the  Hebrew  Bible  and  the  Christian  belief  hold  sway  ;  and  if, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  Hebrew  and  Christian  religions  had 
been  the  ones  developed  in  India  or  China,  the  civilization  of 
the  various  countries  would  still,  in  the  main,  be  what  they  are 
to-day. 

*  See  Appendix  A. 


Civilization. 


81 


If  our  superior  civilization  were  the  result  of  our  religion, 
then  the  most  civilized  countries  would  be  the  most  intensely 
Christian  countries.  We  all  know  that  this  is  not  the  case. 
Compare  the  intense  Christianity  of  Spain  or  Eussia,  and  their 
backward  civilization,  with  the  easy-going  religious  or  irrelig- 
ious condition  of  France  or  America,  and  their  recognition  of 
Liberty  and  Humanity,  equalled  nowhere  else  on  earth. 

I  admit  unreservedly  that  a  religion,  by  its  inelasticity,  may 
do  much  to  retard  progress,  or  by  its  greater  elasticity  may  per- 
mit a  more  rapid  development  than  a  more  nearly  petrified  or 
incoherent  system  would  allow  ;  but  what  I  hold  is  this,  that 
the  primary  and  controlling  causes  of  the  various  stages  of  civil- 
ization are  climate  and  soil. 

There  are,  of  course,  many  other  things  which  modify  the 
social  development  or  civilization  in  any  country,  as  its  religion, 
its  laws,  and  what  we  may  call  '^accidents  of  international  or 
civil  contest,'^  such  as  the  religious  or  other  wars — our  own  war 
in  which  the  blacks  were  freed,  arbitration,  and  immigration. 
All  of  these,  and  many  others,  are  modifying  influences ;  but 
no  one  of  them  can  claim  the  primary  place. 

Soil,  climate,  and  location  determine  the  occupation  of  a 
nation,  as  whether  it  shall  be  militant,  commercial,  or  agricul- 
tural. In  turn  occupation  determines  what  the  character  of  a 
people  and  their  laws  shall  be,  whether  they  shall  be  warlike  or 
peaceful,  inventive  or  receptive,  stationary  or  roving  ;  and 
these,  in  turn,  are  the  matters  which  determine  the  civil  scale 
to  which  a  people  shall  rise. 

True,  the  religion  of  a  people  will  make  itself  felt  strongly  ; 
but  whenever  a  nation  has  found  it  expedient  or  desirable  to 
accomplish  a  feat  which  was  in  opposition  to  its  religion,  it  has 
invariably  modified  the  religion  to  fit  the  case,  or  waived  it  in 
favor  of  that  particular  movement.* 

*  The  popular  religion  in  this,  as  in  other  cases,  was  made  to  bend 
to  the  new  vice." — Lecky's  History  of  European  Morals,  vol.  ii., 
page  311. 


82 


Historical  Facts  and  Theological  Fictions. 


In  keeping  with  this  fact  it  is  found  that  in  those  countries 
where  the  greatest  changes  and  modifications  of  government 
and  occupation  have  occurred,  there  have  the  rehgions  under- 
gone the  greatest  modification  to  fit  the  new  order  of  things. 
If  it  were  the  rehgion  that  determined  the  matter,  civihzation 
and  morals  would  be  immovable,  and  legislation  would  revolve 
around  the  guidance  of  the  Church. 

According  to  the  very  theory  of  Divine  revelation  a  religion 
would  be  most  perfect  at  its  beginning.  It  would  be  without 
flaw  when  born.  It  would  be  incapable  of  improvement  or 
growth.  In  a  word  it  would  be  immovable.  It  would  possess 
the  fixation  of  which  Emerson  speaks.  It  would  not  have  to 
readjust  itself  to  the  changed  and  improved  conditions  of  man, 
and  its  word  would  be  always  a  higher  light  on  every  movement 
of  progress.  It  would  be  to  the  Church  and  not  to  the  State 
that  the  great  principles  of  progress,  of  liberty,  and  of  justice 
would  look  for  the  highest  guidance  and  the  last  light.  IIow 
fi:r  this  is  from  the  real  state  of  things  in  any  country  or  in  any 
religion  all  readers  of  history  know.* 

It  is  the  State  or  Science  which  has  proposed  and  made  the 
steps  of  progress,  and  the  Church  has  (often  after  the  most 
bitter  fight  and  denunciation)  readjusted  her  creed  to  the  new 
code,  and  then  claimed  that  she  had  that  light  and  knew  that 
principle  before,  although  neither  she  nor  any  one  else  had  ever 
suspected  it. 

This  has  been  the  case  with  almost  every  important  discovery 
that  Science  has  ever  made.  The  Church  has  retarded  the 
acceptance  of  the  new  light,  and  has  set  her  seal  of  divine 
disapproval  and  damnation  on  the  brow  of  the  thinkers  who 
strove  to  bless  mankind.  It  has  been  the  rule  in  State  reforms 
as  well.  It  was  so  in  the  struggle  to  separate  Church  and  State. 
It  is  so  in  the  effort  to  sustain  the  belief  in  the  divine  right  of 
kings."    The  Church  fought  individual  liberty  and  represcn- 


*  See  Appendix  B. 


Civilization. 


83 


tative  government^  and  she  still  contests  the  questions  of  indi- 
vidual conscience  and  universal  equality  and  independence*. 

In  these  matters  the  Church  has  invariably  been  on  the  side 
that  ultimately  had  to  go  to  the  wall^  and  she  has  become  a 
party  to  the  progress  only  after  the  principle  has  become  an 
established  fact. 

Now  it  is  the  efforts  of  Science  and  Law  towards  the  elevation 
of  man  and  the  bettering  of  his  condition  in  this  world — the 
procuring  for  him  of  greater  personal  advantages^  dignity^  and 
liberty — that  have  marked  the  progress  of  civilization. 

The  climate  and  soil  decided  man^s  occupation  ;  his  occupa- 
tion determined  what  his  higher  needs  should  be  ;  and  his  higher 
:i'3GCl3  and  the  gained  results  of  his  occupations  enabled  him  to 
strive  for  the  oettermg  of  his  condition  and  surroundings.  The 
man  who  lived  in  a  climate  favorable  to  mental  and  physical 
activity,  and  in  a  country  with  a  rich  and  varied  soil,  was 
enabled  to  accomplish  his  ends  as  his  less  fortunate  brother — 
lacking  such  support  and  stimulus  and  motive — has  been  unable 
to  do. 

If  such  a  thing  had  been  possible,  thirty  years  ago,  as  that  all 
knowledge  of  our  religion  had  been  utterly  wiped  out  of  America, 
and  a  thorough  knowledge  of  Buddhism  or  Mohammedanism 
instilled  into  every  Yankee  brain  in  its  stead,  the  Yankee  brain 
would  have  simply  adjusted  its  religion  to  its  surroundings  and 
not  its  surroundings  to  its  religion ;  and  America  would  have 

*  See  reports  of  the  last  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Church 
held  in  Philadelphia,  where,  during  a  heated  debate,  one  member  said 
that  he  was  in  favor  of  using  common-sense  and  the  principle  of  justice 
in  deciding  questions  of  right  and  wrong  and  of  hberty  of  conscience ; 
whereupon  a  large  majority  voted  him  a  dangerous  man,  and  decided 
that  common-sense  and  justice  had  nothing  to  do  with  rehgion.  One 
member  naively  remarked  that  the  whole  career  and  hfe  of  a  good 
preacher  fully  disproved  that  any  such  heretical  doctrines  obtained  in 
the  Church  as  that  the  use  of  common-sense  was  admissible ;  and 
since  the  majority  voted  with  him  it  does  not  seem  to  be  my  place  to 
question  that  fact. 


84 


Historical  Facts  and  Tlieological  Fictions. 


gone  right  on  in  the  front  rank  of  liberty  and  toleration  and 
progress.  There  would  have  been  social  and  political  and  reli- 
gious contests  over  caste  or  harems or  Tripitaka/^ 
instead  of  over  slavery  as  a  divine  institution^  the  right  of  a 
mother  to  her  own  offsprings  or  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible. 
The  wheels  of  progress  would  have  been  blocked  some  days  by 
devotees  who  preached  damnation  for  those  who  believed  in 
the  Trinity"  instead  of  for  those  who  did  not.  Hell  would 
have  been  as  freely  promised  to  the  man  who  suggested  that 
Newton  knew  more  than  Mohammed^  as  it  is  to-day  to  any  one 
who  makes  the  same  odious  comparison  between  Darwin  and 
Moses.  The  timid  would  have  been  terrified  by  sermons  to 
prove  the  lost  condition  of  a  man  who  touched  one  of  lower 
ranks  iii  place  of  the  edification  our  clergy  offer  in  the  shape  of 
eternal  damnation  for  unbaptized  infants.  And  there  would 
have  been  so  little  difference  between  the  arguments  for  the 
divinity  of  the  Tripitaka  and  the  Bible^  and  for  the  miracles  of 
each,  that  if  any  devout  Presbyterian  had  by  accident  left  his 
barrel  of  sermons  on  the  latter  subject  behind  him^  his 
Buddhist  brother  could  have  utilized  them  without  the  change 
of  an  argument.  But  the  wheel  would  turn  and  the  devotee 
would  either  go  down  or  change  his  creed,  and  it  would  depend 
chiefly  upon  his  age  and  consequent  flexibility  which  course  he 
would  adopt. 

No  known  religion  could  transfer  the  conditions  of  civiliza- 
tion in  China  to  America  or  England  or  France,  and  no  amount 
of  christianizing  (if  such  a  thing  were  possible)  could  transform 
China  into  a  like  condition  with  us,  so  long  as  her  climate,  her 
soil,  and  her  population  remain  what  they  are  to-day.  You  may 
make  the  Arab  or  the  Jap  digest  the  whole  Westminster  cate- 
chism, but  he  will,  he  must,  be  an  Arab  or  a  Jap  still— if  he 
lives  through  it  all.  If  his  constitution  is  good,  and  he  gets 
over  it,  his  condition  and  grade  of  civilization  will  continue  to 
conform  to  his  environment ;  and  the  trifling  difference  involved 
between  turning-off  prayers  on  a  wheel  and  counting  them  off 


Civilization. 


85 


on  beads  will  be  simply  the  difference  between  tweedledee  and 
tweedledum. 

Notwithstanding  this  as  a  primary  fact,  the  religion  of  a 
country  has  a  modifying  influence  on  the  rapidity  of  its  progress, 
and  the  more  fixed  a  religion — the  more  certainly  it  claims 
perfection,  the  greater  claim  it  lays  to  holding  the  final  word  ; 
and  the  more  fully  this  claim  is  accepted  by  the  people,  the 
greater  influence  will  it  have,  the  greater  check  will  it  be  to  the 
development  of  any  new  thought,  discovery,  invention,  or 
principle  that  arises  in  the  process  of  evolution  toward  a  freer 
atmosphere  and  a  broader  understanding  of  individual  liberty 
and  dignity  and  life.  William  Kingdon  Clifford,  F.  K.  S.,  in 
his  delightful  book  on  the    Scientific  Basis  of  Morals/'  says  : 

'*Itis  sometimes  said  that  moral  questions  have  been  authorita- 
tively settled  by  other  methods  ;  that  we  ought  to  accept  this  decision, 
and  not  to  question  it  by  any  method  of  scientific  inquiry  ;  and  that 
reason  should  give  way  to  revelation  on  such  matters. 

I  hope  before  I  have  done  to  show  just  cause  why  we  should  pro- 
nounce on  such  teaching  as  this  no  light  sentence  of  moral  condemna- 
tion :  first,  because  it  is  our  duty  to  form  those  beliefs  which  are  to 
guide  our  actions  by  the  two  scientific  modes  of  inference,  and  by 
these  alone ;  and,  secondly,  because  the  proposed  mode  of  settling 
ethical  questions  by  authority  is  contrary  to  the  very  nature  of  right 
and  wrong. 

**  The  worship  of  a  deity  who  is  represented  as  unfair  or  unfriendly 
to  any  portion  of  the  community  is  a  wrong  thing,  however  great 
may  be  the  threats  and  promises  by  which  it  is  commended.  And 
still  worse,  the  reference  of  right  and  wrong  to  his  arbitrary  will  as  a 
standard,  the  diversion  of  the  allegiance  of  the  moral  sense  from  the 
community  to  him,  is  the  most  insidious  and  fatal  of  social  diseases, 

"  The  first  princi^^le  of  natural  ethics  is  the  sole  and  supreme 
allegiance  of  conscience  to  the  community. 

Secondly,  veracity  to  the  community  depends  upon  faith  in  mar?.. 
Surely  I  ought  to  be  talking  platitudes  when  I  say  that  it  is  not  J^iUg- 
lish  to  tell  a  man  a  lie,  or  to  suggest  a  lie  by  your  silence  or  your 
actions,  because  you  are  afraid  that  he  is  not  prepared  for  the  truth, 
because  you  don't  quite  know  what  he  will  do  when  he,  knows  it,  be- 
cause perhaps  after  all  this  lie  is  a  better  thing  for  hi  m  than  the  truth 


86 


Historical  Facts  and  Theological  Fictions, 


would  be,  this  same  man  being  all  the  time  an  honest  fellow-citizen 
whom  you  have  every  reason  to  trust.  Surely  I  have  heard  that  this 
craven  crookedness  is  the  object  of  our  national  detestation.  And 
yet  it  is  constantly  whispered  that  it  would  he  dangerous  to  divulge 
certain  truths  to  the  masses.  '  I  know  the  whole  thing  is  untrue  : 
but  then  it  is  so  useful  for  the  people  ;  you  don't  know  what  harm 
you  might  do  by  shaking  their  faith  in  it.'  Crooked  ways  are  none 
the  less  crooked  because  they  are  meant  to  deceive  great  masses  of 
people  instead  of  individuals.  If  a  thing  is  true,  let  us  all  beheve  it, 
rich  and  poor,  men,  women,  and  children.  If  a  tiling  is  untrue,  let 
us  all  disbelieve  it,  rich  and  poor,  men,  women,  and  children.  Truth 
is  a  thing  to  be  shouted  from  the  housetops,  not  to  be  whispered  over 
rose-water  after  dinner  when  the  ladies  are  gone  away. 

"  Even  in  those  whom  I  would  most  reverence,  who  would  shrink 
with  horror  from  such  actual  deception  as  I  have  just  mentioned,  I 
find  traces  of  a  want  of  faith  in  man.  Even  that  noble  thinker,  to 
whom  we  of  this  generation  owe  more  than  I  can  tell,  seemed  to  say 
in  one  of  his  posthumous  essays  that  in  regard  to  questions  of  great 
public  importance  we  might  encourage  a  hope  in  excess  of  the  evi- 
dence (which  would  infallibly  grow  into  a  belief  and  defy  evidence)  if 
we  found  that  life  was  made  easier  by  it.  As  if  tve  should  not  lose 
infinitely  more  by  nourishing  a  tendency  to  falsehood  than  we  could 
gain  by  the  delusion  of  a  pleasing  fancy.  Life  must  first  of  all  be 
made  straight  and  true ;  it  may  get  easier  through  the  help  this 
brings  to  the  commonwealth.  And  Lange,  the  great  historian  of 
materialism,  says  that  the  amount  of  false  belief  necessary  to  mo- 
rality in  a  given  society  is  a  matter  of  taste.  I  cannot  believe  that 
any  falsehood  whatever  is  necessary  to  morality.  It  cannot  be  true 
of  my  race  and  yours  that  to  keep  ourselves  from  becoming  scoun- 
drels we  must  needs  believe  a  lie.  The  sense  of  right  grew  up  among 
healthy  men  and  was  fixed  by  the  practice  of  comradeship.  It  has 
never  had  help  from  phantoms  and  falsehoods,  and  it  never  can  want 
any.  By  faith  in  man  and  piety  toward  men  we  have  taught  each 
other  the  right  hitherto  ;  with  faith  in  man  and  piety  toward  men  we 
shall  never  more  depart  from  it." 

If  religion  decided  and  produced  the  civilization  of  a  people, 
what  sort  of  civilization  would  exist  to-day  among  the  Jews  ? 
All  Je>f5i  would  be  bigamists,  and  murder  would  be  their  pas- 
time. No  people  would  be  free  from  their  rapine,  no  woman 
safe  from  their  lust.    But  fortunately  they  have  followed  their 


Civilization, 


87 


scientific  and  political  leaders  instead  of  their  Prophets^  and  the 
consequence  is  that  they  are  so  far  above  and  superior  to  their 
religion  and  their  Bible,  that  only  in  its  trivial  and  immaterial 
dictates  is  it  their  guide  and  law  to-day. 

And  we,  building  upon  the  same  foundation,  with  an  added 
story  to  our  edifice,  modify,  to  suit  legislation  and  a  higher  pub- 
lic sentiment  and  a  broader  conception  of  justice,  both  the 
foundation  and  the  roof  whenever  a  new  principle  is  born  or 
some  great  soul  floods  the  world  with  light. 

And  so  the  world  moves  on,  those  nations  in  advance  that 
possess  the  climate  to  stimulate  and  the  soil  to  support  to  the 
best  advantage  their  citizens — philosophers  and  scientists  who 
grope  towards  perfection  and  stumble  on  the  way  over  real  and 
imaginary  obstacles,  but  still  bring  each  generation  nearer  the 
goal,  and  freer  to  brush  aside  the  cobwebs  of  superstition  and 
ignorance,  and  to  look  fairly  out  on  the  light  that  breaks  in  the 
East. 

There  is  another  feature  of  the  subject  that  will  bear  looking 
at.  Christians  are  the  last  to  give  credit  to  other  religions  for 
the  development  and  'advance  of  civilization  in  the  countries 
possessing  them.  What  Christian  will  admit  that  it  is  the  re- 
ligion of  the  Chinese  that  makes  them  the  most  orderly,  laAV- 
abiding,  mob-avoiding  people  on  the  globe  ?  Will  any  Chris- 
tian admit  that  it  is  the  inferior  moral  tone  of  Christ  and  his 
teachings  which  enables  the  followers  of  Confucius  and  Buddha 
to  offer  this  superior  showing?  Is  he  prepared  to  say  that 
Mohammedanism  is  superior  to  Christianity  because  its  fol- 
lowers outdo  the  Christians  in  honesty  ?  *  Is  it  owing  to  t^^ 
superior  blessings  of  the  Mormon  faith  that  its  follow^i^rs  are 
more  thrifty,  and  that  paupers  are  few  or  unkn^^wn  among 

*  Travelers  tell  us  that  a  native  can  leave  an  order  together  with 
a  bag"  of  uncounted  gold  at  the  shop  of  a  dealer,  and  upon  the  return 
of  the  buyer  his  order  will  be  exactly  filled,  his  gold  properly  and 
honestly  divided,  and  all  where  he  had  left  them,  even  though  the  shop 
be  open  to  the  street  and  unattended^  and  unguarded. 

/' 


88 


Historical  Facts  and  Theological  Fictions, 


them  ?  Is  it  because  *  their  rehgion  is  superior  to  ours  that  the 
Lapp  women  are  better  treated^  that  their  comparative  status 
is  higher^  and  their  family  hf e  purer  than  with  ourselves  ?  * 

The  claim  that  superiority  of  civilization  is  due  to  Christi- 
anity, and  that  to  it  we  owe  the  good  things  of  the  nations 
where  it  is  the  prevailing  religion,  proves  too  much.  It  ivill 
toorh  just  as  well  for  any  other  religion  as  for  our  own.  Its 
reach  is  too  extended,  its  conclusion  too  comprehensive  for  its 
purpose.  Christianity  could  not  be  made  its  sole  terminus.  It 
reminds  one  of  the  story  of  the  brakeman  who  was  persuaded 
to  go  to  church.  When  he  came  out  his  friend  asked  him  how 
he  liked  the  preacher.  He  said,  "  Very  well,  on  the  main  line. 
He  had  good  wheels,  his  track  was  straight  and  level,  and  he 
carried  a  good  head  of  steam,  but  he  seemed  to  lack  terminal 
facilities,'^  f 

Though  Norway  with  Ladies."  By  W.  Mattieu  Williams. 
F.E.A.S.,  F.C.S. 

f  Horace  Seaver  recently  wrote  the  following : 

**ALL  OWING  TO  THE  BIBLE. 

**It  is  a  very  common  argument  with  Christians,  that  only  those 
nations  which  have  had  the  Bible  were  refined,  civilized,  and  learned. 
A  Christian  paper,  now  before  us,  exultingly  says  : 

*  Take  the  map  of  the  world,  draw  a  line  around  those  countries 
that  have  enjoyed  the  highest  degree  of  refinement,  and  you  will 
encircle  just  those  nations  that  have  received  the  Bible  as  their 
authority  in  religion.' 

From  this  language  the  plain  inference  is,  that  those  nations  have 
been  indebted  to  the  influence  of  the  Bible  for  the  positions  to  which 
tfiCV  have  attained.  Let  us  follow  out  a  little  this  line  of  argument 
and  seG  where  it  will  lead. 

The  ancient  Egyptians  stood  as  far  in  advance  of  their  contempo- 
raries as  do  the,  nations  of  Christendom  at  the  present  day,  as  the 
remains  of  Egyptiitli  cities  and  temples  fully  attest.  And  if  the  argu- 
ment is  good,  they  were  indebted  for  that  superiority  to  their  worship 
of  cats,  crocodiles,  and  oiiions  ! 

The  ancient  Greek  might  have  exclaimed,  as  he  beheld  the  proud 
position  to  which  Greece  had  attained—*  See  what  we  owe  to  a  belief 


Comparative  Status. 


89 


COMPAKATIVE  STATUS. 

It  is  a  fact  that  in  some  Christian  countries  the  actual  status 
of  woman  is  higher  than  it  is  to-day  in  any  other  country  ;  but 
it  is  also  true  that  her  comparative  status  is  often  lower.* 

If  we  compare  the  actual  status  of  woman  in  Eussia  or  Spain 
(the  two  most  intensely  Christian  countries  to-day)  with  that  of 
the  Chinese  or  Hindoo  woman,  the  showing  may  be  somewhat 
in  favor  of  the  former  ;  but  on  the  other  hand,  her  comparative 
position  (when  taken  with  that  of  the  men  of  her  country) 
does  not  gain  but  loses  by  the  contrast.    It  is  a  significant  fact 

in  our  glorious  mythology  ;  we  have  reached  the  highest  point  of 
enlightenment  the  world  has  ever  witnessed  ;  we  stand  unequalled  in 
power,  wealth,  the  cultivation  of  the  arts,  and  all  that  makes  a  nation 
refined,  polished,  and  great ! ' 

'*How  immeasurably  would  his  faith  in  the  elevating  tendency 
of  Ms  religion  have  been  increased,  could  he  have  looked  with  pro- 
phetic eye  into  the  distant  ages  of  the  future,  and  beheld  the  enlight- 
ened and  Christianized  nations  of  the  nineteenth  century  adopting 
the  remains  of  Grecian  architecture,  sculpture,  painting,  oratory, 
music,  and  literature  as  their  models  ! 

"Pagan  Rome,  too,  once  mistress  of  the  world  and  arbitress  of 
nations — the  home  of  philosophers  and  sages — the  land  in  which  the 
title,  *I  am  a  Roman  citizen,'  was  the  proudest  that  a  mortal  could 
wear — Rome,  by  the  above  Christian  argument,  should  have  ascribed 
all  her  honor,  praise,  and  glory  to  her  mythology. 

The  Turk  and  the  Saracen,  likewise,  have  had  their  day  of  power 
and  renown.  Bagdad  was  the  seat  of  science  and  learning  at  a  time 
when  the  nations  of  Europe  were  sunk  in  darkness  and  superstition. 
The  Turk  and  Saracen  should  have  pointed  to  the  Koran  as  the  source 
of  their  refinement. 

**Thus  w^e  see  that  the  Christian  argument  we  are  noticing,  if  it 
proves  anything,  proves  too  much.  If  the  nations  of  Christendom 
are  indebted  to  the  Bible  for  their  enlightenment,  likewise  were  the 
Egyptians  indebted  to  their  cat  and  crocodile  and  onion  worship,  the 
Greeks  and  Romans  to  their  mythology,  and  the  Turks  and  Saracens 
to  their  Koran." 

*  See  Appendix  C,  1-6. 


90 


Historical  Facts  and  Theological  Fictions, 


that,  of  all  the  Christian  countries,  in  those  tohere  the  Church 
stands  highest  and  has  most  yower  ivomen  rank  lowest  and  have 
fewest  rights  accorded  them,  whether  of  i^ersonal  liberty  or  pro- 
prietary interest.  In  the  countries  named  above^.  and  in  other 
countries  where  the  Church  still  has  a  strong  grip  upon  the 
throat  of  the  State^  woman^s  position  is  degraded  indeed ; 
while  in  the  three  so-called  Christian  countries  where  the 
Church  has  least  power^  where  law  is  not  wholly  or  in  so  large 
part  canonical^  woman^s  position  is  more  free^  more  indepen- 
dent^ and  less  degraded^  when  compared  with  the  position  of 
the  men  of  those  countries. 

That  tells  the  whole  story.  If  it  were  to  the  Church  or  to 
her  religion  that  she  owed  her  advancement^  it  would  be  in  the 
most  strictly  Christian  countries  that  her  elevation  and  advan- 
tages would  be  greatest.  Under  the  canon  law  her  status  would 
be  higher  than  under  the  common  law.  On  the  contrary, 
however,  it  is  under  the  least  religious,  freest,  and  most  purely 
secular  forms  of  government  that  she  has  attained  most  full 
recognition  and  secured  the  greatest  advancement. 

Compare  the  position  of  woman  in  Christian  Spain  with  her 
position  in  Infidel  France.  Compare  her  condition  in  Eussia, 
with  the  flag  of  the  Church  and  the  seal  of  the  Cross  for  her 
protection,  with  that  of  her  sister  under  the  stars  and  stripes  of 
America,  with  a  constitution  written  by  the  infidels  Jefferson 
and  Paine. 

Compare  them  and  decide  whether  it  is  to  the  Church  and 
the  Cross,  with  their  wars  and  persecutions,  or  to  Liberty  and 
Scepticism  that  women  owe  their  loyal  love  and  their  earnest 
support.  Compare  them  and  determine  then  whether  it  is  to 
Christianity  or  to  Science  that  she  should  fly  for  protection, 
and  where  it  is  that  she  will  be  most  certain  of  justice.  Com- 
pare them  and  answer  whether  it  is  to  the  Fathers  of  the 
Church  or  to  the  Founders  of  Kepublics  that  women  should  be 
most  grateful.  Compare  them,  and  be  thankful,  oh  women 
of  America,  that  the  Church  never  had  her  hand  on  the  throat 


Comparative  Status. 


91 


of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  that  she  is  losing 
her  grip  on  the  Supreme  Bench  !  * 

In  our  pride  of  race  we  forget  that  it  is  less  than  three  hun- 
dred short  years  since  Christianity  by  both  legal  and  spiritual 
power  enforced  the  most  degrading  and  vile  conditions  upon 
woman,  compelling  her  to  live  solely  by  the  sale  of  her  virtue,  f 

Only  within  the  past  three  hundred  years  of  growing  scepti- 
cism and  loss  of  power  by  the  Church  has  either  purity  or  dignity 
become  possible  for  women  ;  and  it  is  well  for  us  to  remember 
that  for  over  1500  years  of  Christianity,  when  the  Church  had 
almost  absolute  power,  it  never  dreamed  of  elevating  woman,  or 
recognizing  her  as  other  than  an  inferior  being  created  solely 
to  minister  to  the  lowest  nature  of  man,  and  possessing  neither 
a  right  to  her  own  person  nor  a  voice  in  her  own  defence. 

I  wish  that  every  woman  who  upholds  the  Church  to-day 
might  read  the  array  of  facts  on  this  subject  so  ably  presented 
by  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage  in  her  work  on  Woman,  Church,  and 
State,  a  digest  of  which  is  printed  in  the  last  chapter  of  vol.  1. 
of  the  History  of  Woman  Suffrage, of  which  she  is  one  of 
the  editors.  It  is  so  ably  written,  and  the  facts  collected  are 
so  damning,  that  I  need  add  no  word  of  mine  to  such  passages 
as  I  can  give  from  it,  in  the  accompanying  appendix  to  this 
work.  J 

*  On  the  status  of  women  there  is  much  of  interest  in  Mr.  Herbert 
Spencer's  Principles  of  Sociology,"  vol.  1.  Mr.  Spencer  deals  with 
the  subject,  in  the  main,  from  a  different  point  of  view  from  the  one 
taken  in  this  article  ;  but  that  his  position  (in  regard  to  the  causes  of 
woman's  advancement  being  due  to  the  Church)  is  not  wholly  unlike 
my  own,  will,  I  think,  be  readily  seen.  He  places  more  stress  on  the 
results  of  war  than  I  have  done  (and  in  this  the  corroborating'  evidence 
furnished  by  the  Holy  wars  would  sustain  the  position  of  both),  I  hav- 
ing included  this  phase  of  action  under  the  term  occupation,  since  I 
have  dealt  almost  wholly  with  nations  more  advanced  and  freer  from 
the  fortunes  of  the  Militant  type  than  Mr.  Spencer  has  done, 

t  See  Appendix  D. 

X  See  Appendix  E. 


92 


Historical  Facts  and  Theological  Fictions, 


WOMEIsr  AS  PERSOKS. 

Blackstone  enumerates  tliree  "absolute  rights  of  persons/^ 
First,  "The  right  of  personal  security,  in  the  legal  enjoyment 
of  life,  limb,  body,  health,  and  reputation/^  Second,  "The 
right  of  personal  liberty — free  power  of  locomotion  without 
legal  restraint/^  Third,  "The  right  of  private  property — the 
free  use  and  disposal  of  his  own  lawful  acquisitions/^ 

None  of  these  three  primary  and  essential  rights  of  persons 
w^ere  conceded  to  women,  and  Church  law  did  not  rank  her  as  a 
person  deprived  of  these  rights,  but  held  that  she  was  not  a 
person  at  all,  but  only  a  function  ;  therefore  she  possessed  no 
rights  of  person  in  this  world  and  no  hope  of  safety  in  the 
next. 

As  to  the  first  of  these  "  absolute  rights  of  persons,  any  one 
of  her  male  relations,  or  her  husband  after  she  passed  from  one 
to  the  other,  had  absolute  power  over  her,  even  to  the  extent  of 
bodily  injury,*  bargain  and  sale  of  her  person,  and  death.  Nor 
did  even  this  limit  the  number  of  her  masters.  By  both 
Church  and  Common  Law  the  Lords  temporal  (barons  and  other 
peers)  and  the  Lords  spiritual  (Archbishops,  Bishops,  and 

*  Although  England  was  christianized  in  the  fourth  century,  it  was 
not  until  the  tenth  that  a  daughter  had  a  right  to  reject  a  husband 
selected  for  her  b}''  her  father  ;  and  it  was  not  until  the  same  century 
that  a  Christian  wife  of  a  Christian  husband  acquired  the  right  of  eating 
at  the  table  with  him.  For  many  hundred  years  the  law  bound  out  to 
servile  labor  all  unmarried  women  between  the  ages  of  eleven  and 
forty."— ikf.  J.  Gage, 

Wives  m  England  were  bought /rom  the  fifth  to  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury.'''' [The  dates  are  significant ;  let  the  Church  respond.] — Herbert 
Spencer. 

*'In  England,  as  late  as  the  seventeenth  century,  husbands  of 
decent  station  were  not  ashamed  to  beat  their  wives.  Gentlemen  ar- 
ranged parties  of  pleasure  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  wretc3hed  women 
whipped  at  Bridewell.  It  was  not  imtil  1817  that  the  public  whipping 
of  women  was  abolished  in  England." — Spencer, 


Women  as  Persons, 


93 


Abbots)  possessed  and  exercised  the  right  to  dispose  of  her 
purity,  either  for  a  money  consideration  or  as  a  bribe  or  pres- 
ent as  they  saw  fit.* 

Thus  was  the  forced  degradation  of  woman  made  a  source  of 
revenue  to  the  Church,  and  a  means  of  crushing  her  self-respect 
and  destroying  her  sense  of  personal  responsibility  as  to  her  own 
acts  in  the  matter  of  chastity,  the  legitimate  outcome  of  which 
is  to  be  found  in  the  vast  army  of  women  who  are  named  only 
to  be  reviled.  I?i  them  the  Church  can  look  on  her  0W7i  work. 
The  fruit  is  the  natural  outcome  of  the  training  woman  received 
that  taught  and  compelled  her  always  to  submit  to  the  dictates 
of  some  man,  no  matter  what  her  own  judgment,  modesty,  or 
desires  might  be.  She  was  not  supposed  to  have  an  opinion  or 
to  know  right  from  wrong ;  and  from  PauFs  injunction,  ^^If 
you  want  to  know  anything  ask  your  husband  at  home,^^  down 
to  the  decisions  of  the  last  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist 
Church,  the  teaching  that  woman  must  subordinate  her  own 
sense  of  right  and  her  own  judgment  to  the  dictates  of  some- 
one else — any  one  else  of  the  opposite  sex — from  first  to  last  has 
been  as  ingenious  a  method  as  could  have  been  devised  to  fill 
the  world  with  libertines  and  their  victims,  f  It  is  time  for  the 
followers  of  St.  Paul  to  face  the  results  of  their  own  work. 

Under  the  provisions  of  the  law  which  held  that  all  per- 
sons could  recover  damages  for  injury — have  legal  redress  for  a 
wrong  inflicted  upon  them — woman  again  was  held  as  7iot  a 
person. 

If  she  were  assaulted  and  beaten,  or  if  she  were  subjected  to 
the  greatest  indignity  that  it  is  possible  to  inflict  upon  her,  she 
had  no  redress.  She  could  not  complain.  The  law  gave  her 
no  protection  whatever.  Her  father  or  husband  could,  if  he 
saw  fit,  bring  suit  to  recover  damages  for  the  loss  of  her  services 
as  a  servant,  and  wholly  upon  the  ground  that  it  loas  an  injury 

*  See  Appendix  E. 
t  See  Appendix  F,  2. 


94 


Historical  Facts  and  Theological  Fictions. 


to  him  a?id  to  his  feelings.    She  was  no  more  recognized  as  a 

person  in  the  matter^  nor  was  she  more  highly  considered 
than  if  she  were  an  inmate  of  a  zoological  garden  to  which  some 
mischievous  visitor  had  fed  too  many  bonbons.  The  owner 
was  damaged  because  the  brute  might  die  or  be  injured  in  the 
sight  of  the  patrons^  but  aside  from  that  view  of  the  case  no 
harm  was  done  and  no  account  taken  of  so  trivial  a  matter. 

No  matter  what  the  injury  she  sustained^  whether  it  crippled 
her  physically  or  blighted  her  mentally  and  made  life  to  her 
the  worst  curse  that  could  be  inflicted^  she  had  no  appeal.  The 
wounded  feelings  of  one  of  her  male  relations  received  due  con- 
sideration^ and  he  could  recover  the  money- value  he  might  set 
upon  the  injury  to  his  lacerated  mind.  This  is  still  the  letter 
and  the  practice  of  the  law  in  many  places^  even  in  America. 

If  she  had  no  male  relations^  the  injury  did  not  county  and 
no  person  being  injured  everything  was  lovely,  and  prayers 
went  right  on  to  the  God  who,  being  no  respecter  of  persons 
(provided  they  were  free,  white,  adult  males),  enjoyed  the 
incense  from  altars  whereon  burning  witches  writhed  in 
agony  and  helpless  young  girls  plead  for  mercy  under  the 
loathed  and  loathsome  touch  of  the  "^^St.^^  Augustines*  and 

St.  Pelayos,f  whose  praises  are  chanted  and  whose  divine 
goodness  is  recounted  by  Christendom  to-day. 

Such  was  the  ^'elevation''  and  civilization  offered  hy  the 
Church  to  woman.    These  are  among  her  debts  to  the  Church, 

*  **To  Augustine,  whose  early  life  was  spent  in  company  with  the 
most  degraded  of  womankind,  is  Christianity  indebted  for  the  full 
development  of  the  doctrine  of  Original  sin." — Gage, 

All  or  at  least  the  greater  part  of  the  fathers  of  the  Greek  Church 
before  Augustine,  denied  any  real  original  sin." — Emerson. 

**The  doctrine  had  a  gradual  growth,  and  was  fully  developed  by 
Augustine. " —  Waite. 

t  *'The  abbot  elect  of  St.  Augustine,  at  Canterbury,  in  1171,  was 
found  on  investigation  to  have  seventeen  illegitimate  cliildi-en  in  a 
single  village.    An  abbot  of  St.  Pelayo  in  Spain,  in  1130,  was  proved 


Women  as  Persons, 


95 


and  the  men  who  fought  and  contended  against  the  incorpora- 
tion of  such  infamy  into  the  common  law  were  branded  as 
infidels.  It  was  said  they  denied  their  Lord.  They  were  pro- 
nounced most  dangerous^  and  the  clergy  held  up  their  hands 
in  holy  horror  and  whispered  that  such  men  ^^as  much  as 
denied  the  Bible,  blasphemed  their  God,  and  sold  their  souls  to 
the  Devil.      And  the  women,  poor  dupes,  believed  it. 

One  method  the  Church  took  to  benefit  woman  and  show  its 
respect  for  her  was  this  :  any  married  man  was  prohibited 
from  being  a  priest.  Women  were  so  unholy,  so  unclean,  and 
so  inferior,  that  to  have  one  as  a  wife  degraded  a  man  to  such 
an  extent  that  he  was  unfit  to  be  a  minister  or  to  touch  holy 
things.  The  Catholic  Church  still  prohibits  either  party  who 
is  so  unholy  as  to  marry  from  profaning  its  pulpit ;  but  the 
Protestant  Churches  divide  up,  giving  women  the  disabilities 
and  men  the  offices.  The  unselfishness  of  such  a  course  is 
quite  touching.  It  says  to  women  :  You  support  us  and  we 
will  damn  you ;  there  is  nothing  mean  or  niggardly  about 
us.^^ 

As  to  Blackstone's  second  count — ^'^tlie  right  to  personal 
liberty'' — I  can  perhaps  do  no  better  than  give  a  few  bald 
facts. 

Under  Pagan  rule  the  personal  liberty  of  woman  had  become 
very  considerable,  as  well  as  her  proprietary  liberty  ;  but 
Christianity  began  her  degradation  at  once. 

Christianity  was  introduced  into  England  in  the  fourth  cen- 
to have  kept  no  less  than  seventy  mistresses.  Henry  III. ,  Bishop  of 
Liege,  was  deposed  in  1274  for  having  sixty-five  illegitimate  children." 
— Lecky,  **Hist.  of  European  Morals." 

**This  same  bishop  boasted,  at  a  pviblic  banquet,  that  in  twenty-two 
months  fourteen  children  had  been  born  to  him.  A  license  to  the 
clergy  to  keep  concubines  was  during  several  centuries  levied  by 
princes. " — Ibid. 

**It  was  open!y  attested  that  100,000  women  in  England  alone 
were  made  dissolute  by  the  clergy." — Draper,  Intellectual  Develop- 
ment of  Europe." 


96 


Historical  Facts  and  Theological  Fictions. 


tury^  and  the  sale  of  ivomen  began  in  tliefftli;  and  it  was  not 
until  the  eleventh  that  a  girl  could  refuse  to  marry  any  suitor 
her  father  chose  for  her.  In  a  word^  she  always  had  a  guar- 
dian ;  she  had  no  personal  liberty  whatever  ;  she  could  neither 
buy  nor  own  property  as  her  brothers  could ;  she  could  not 
marry  when  and  whom  she  preferred^  live  where  she  wished^ 
eat^  drink^  or  wear  what  she  liked^  or  refuse  any  of  these  pro- 
visions when  they  were  offered  by  her  male  relatives.  If  they 
decided  that  she  had  too  many  back  teeth  they  simply  pulled 
them  out^  and  she  had  nothing  to  say  on  the  subject.  She 
could  be  sold  outright  by  her  father^  or  leased  or  bound  out  as 
he  preferred.  She  never  got  so  old  but  that  her  earnings  be- 
longed to  him,  and  a  mother  never  arrived  at  an  age  sufficiently 
advanced  to  be  entitled  to  the  earnings  of  her  children. 

Sharswood  says,  A  father  is  entitled  to  the  benefits  of  his 
children's  labor.''  ^'^An  infant  [any  one  not  of  age]  owes 
reverence  and  respect  to  his  mother ;  but  she  has  no  right 
to  his  services."  * 

This  is  upon  the  theory,  doubtless,  that  starvation  is  whole- 
some for  a  widowed  mother,  but  that  it  does  not  agree  with  a 
father's  digestion  at  any  time. 

Sir  Henry  Maine  in  his  Ancient  Law  "  says,  that  from  the 
Pagan  laws  all  this  inequality  and  oppressiveness  of  guardian- 
ship and  restriction  of  the  personal  liberty  of  women  had  disap- 
peared, and  he  adds  :  The  consequence  was  that  the  situation 
of  the  Roman  female,  whether  married  or  unmarried,  became 
one  of  great  personal  and  proprietary  independence.  But  Chris- 
tianity tended  somewhat  from  the  very  first  to  narrow  this 
remarkable  liberty,  .  .  .  The  great  jurisconsult  himself  [Gains] 
scouts  the  popular  Christian  apology  offered  for  it  in  the 
mental  inferiority  of  the  female  sex.  .  .  .  Led  by  their  theory 
of  Natural  Law,  the  Roman  [Pagan]  jurisconsults  had  evidently 
at  this  time  assumed  the  equality  of  the  sexes  as  a  principle 
of  their  code  of  equity." 

•  *  BUmkstone,  Sharswood. 


Women  as  Persons. 


97 


Of  tlie  Christians,  led  by  their  theory  of  a  revealed  divine  law 
which  treated  women  as  inferior  beings  and  useful  only  as  prey, 
Lecky  says  European  Morals/^  vol.  1,  page  358) :  But  in  the 
whole  feudal  [Christian  and  chiefly  Canon]  legislation  women 
were  placed  in  a  much  lower  legal  position  than  in  the  Pagan  em- 
pire. The  complete  inferiority  of  the  sex  was  continually  main- 
tanied  by  the  law  ;  and  that  generous  public  opinion  which  in 
Pagan  Eome  had  frequently  revolted  against  the  injustice  done 
to  girls,  in  depriving  them  of  the  greater  part  of  the  inheritance 
of  their  fathers,  totally  disappeared.  Wherever  the  canon  law 
has  been  the  basis  o  f  legislation,  we  find  laws  of  succession  sacri- 
ficing the  interest  of  daughters  and  of  ivives,  and  a  state  of 
public  opinion  which  has  been  formed  and  regulated  by  these 
laws  ;  nor  was  any  serious  attempt  made  to  abolish  them  till  the 
close  of  the  lest  century.  The  French  revolutionists,  though 
rejecting  the  proposal  of  Sieyes  and  Condorcet  [both  infidels] 
to  accord  political  emancipation  to  women,  established  at  least 
an  equal  succession  of  sons  and  daughters,  and  thus  initiated  a 
great  reformation  of  both  law  and  opinion  which  sooner  or 
later  must  traverse  the  world.'* 

How  soon  or  how  late  this  will  happen  will  depend  very 
greatly  upon  the  amount  of  power  retained  by  the  Church. 
Pagans,  Infidels,  and  Scientists  have  fought  for,  and  the  Church 
has  fought  against,  the  dignity,  honor,  and  welfare  of  women 
for  centuries ;  and  because  fear,  organization,  wealth,  selfish- 
ness, and  power  have  been  on  the  side  of  the  Church,  and 
she  has  kept  women  too  ignorant  to  understand  the  situation, 
she  has  succeeded  for  many  generations  in  retarding  the  pro- 
gress and  shutting  out  the  light  that  slowly  came  in  despite  of 
her. 

^'  No  society  which  preserves  any  tincture  of  Christian  insti- 
tutions is  ever  likely  to  restore  to  married  women  the  personal 
liberty  conferred  on  them  by  the  middle  Eoman  law  ;  but  the 
proprietary  disabilities  of  married  females  stand  on  quite  a 
different  basis  from  their  personal  incapacities,  and  it  is  by  keep- 


98  Historical  Fads  and  Theological  Fictions. 


ing  alive  and  consolidating  the  former  that  the  canon  laio  has  so 
deeply  ijijured  civilization.  There  are  many  vestiges  of  a  strug- 
gle betiveen  the  secular  and  ecclesiastical  principles  ;  but  the  canon 
law  nearly  everywhere  prevailed, * 

It  has  always  been  uphill  work  fighting  the  Church.  So 
long  as  it  had  sword  and  fagot  at  its  command^  and  the  will  to 
use  them  ;  so  long  as  it  pretended  to  have,  and  people  believed 
that  it  had,  power  to  mete  out  damnation  to  its  opposers  ;  just 
so  long  were  science,  justice,  and  thought  fatally  crippled. 

But  when  Voltaire,  Diderot,  Condorcet  and  the  great  encyclo- 
pedist circle  of  France  got  their  hands  on  the  throat  of  the 
Church,  and  dipped  their  pens  in  the  fire  of  eloquence,  wit, 
ridicule,  reason,  and  justice,  then,  and  not  till  then,  began  to 
dawn  a  day  of  honor  toward  women,  of  humanity  and  justice 
and  truth.  They  drew  back  the  curtain,  the  world  saw,  the 
cloud  lifted,  and  life  began  on  a  new  plane.  Under  Pagan  rule 
woman  had  begun,  as  we  have  seen,  to  receive  recognition  apart 
from  sex.  She  was  a  human  being.  A  general  law  of  per- 
sons applied  to  and  shielded  her.  But  from  the  first  the 
Ciiristian  Church  refused  to  consider  her  apart  from  her  capacity 
for  reproduction  ;  and  this  one  ground  of  consideration  it  pro- 
nounced a  curse,  a  crime,  and  a  shame  to  her.f  Her  only  claim 
to  recognition  at  all  was  a  curse.  She  was  not  a  person,  she 
was  only  a  function. 

Man  it  pronounced  a  person  first,  with  rights,  privileges,  and 
protection  as  such.  Incidentally  he  might  also  be  a  husband, 
a  father,  or  a  son.  His  welfare,  duties,  and  rights  as  a  person, 
as  a  human  being,  were  apart  from  and  superior  to  those  that 
were  special  and  incidental.  He  received  consideration  always 
as  a  person.    He  might  be  dealt  with  as  husband  or  father. 

But  ignoring  all  her  mental  life  and  denying  that  she  had 
any,  and  ignoring  all  her  physical  possibilities,  ambitions, 

*  Maine's    Ancient  Law,"  158. 

t  See  Lea's    Sacerdotal  Celibacy." 


Women  as  Persons. 


99 


desires^  and  capabilities  as  a  person^  the  Church  narrowed 
woman^s  life  and  restricted  her  energies  into  a  compass  where 
its  power  over  her  became  absolute  and  her  subjection  certain. 
Nor  has  the  loss  been  wholly  to  woman^  for  any  influence 
which  cripples  the  mother's  capacity  of  endowment  takes  cruel 
revenge  on  the  race.* 

From  this  outlook  the  debt  of  civilization  to  the  Church  is 
heavy  indeed.    Is  it  a  debt  of  gratitude  ? 

Under  this  head  there  is  space  for  but  one  point  farther^  out 
of  the  great  store  at  hand. 

The  clergy  were  licensed  to  commit  crime.  They  got  up  a 
neat  little  scheme  called  benefit  of  clergy^'  by  which  they 
were  secure  from  the  punishment  meted  out  to  other  criminals. 
The  relief  offered  did  sometimes  reach  other  men,  but  as  learn- 
ing was  largely  confined  to  the  clergy  they  were  the  chief  bene- 
ficiaries, as  the  name  implies  and  as  was  the  intent  of  the  law. 
Any  man  who  could  read  was  allowed  benefit  of  clergy  ; in 
other  words,  his  punishment  was  lightened  or  entirely  omitted. 
But  a  woman,  though  she  were  a  perfect  mine  of  wisdom  and 
could  read  in  any  number  of  languages,  could  receive  no  such 
benefit,  because  she  could  not  take  lioly  orders.  They  first 
enacted  that  she  should  not  take  orders,  and  then  they  denied 
to  her  the  relief  which  only  that  ability  could  give.  So  great  a 
favorite  was  woman  with  the  Church  ! 

The  ordinary  male  criminal  received  the  ordinary  punish- 
ment, the  clergy  received  none  ;  and  in  order  that  the  requisite 
gross  amount  of  suffering  for  crime  should  be  inflicted  on  some- 
body, the  clergy  enacted  that  woman  should  receive  their  share 
vicariously  in  addition  to  her  own,  and  then  to  this  they  added 
such  interest  as  would  make  the  twenty-per-cent-a-month  men 
of  Wall  street  ashamed  of  their  stupid  financiering. 

*  It  is  not  impossible  but  that  a  more  correct  understanding*  of  the 
laws  of  life  and  heredity  may  establish  the  fact  that  because  of  the 
subjection  of  woman,  the  entire  race  has  been  mentally  dwarfed  and 
physically  weakened. " —  Gamh  le. 


100         Historical  Facts  and  Theological  Fictions, 


Thus  the  Church  arrogated  to  itself  the  exchisive  right  to 
commit  crime  with  impunity^  and  also  claimed  and  exercised 
the  right  to  prevent  women  from  learning  to  read.  If  she  still 
persisted  it  could  then  punish  her  doubly,  because  she  had  no  right 
to  learn. 

For  offenses  for  which  ordinary  men  were  hanged,  women 
were  burned  alive,  and  priests  were  glorified.  For  larceny  a 
man  was  branded  in  the  hand  or  imprisoned  for  a  few  months  ; 
while  for  a  first  offence  of  the  kind  a  woman  was  kindly  per- 
mitted to  be  hanged  or  beheaded  without  benefit  of  clergy  ;  and 
the  clergy  went  scot  free.*  The  Church  did  then  as  it  does 
now,  it  claimed  all  the  benefits  of  citizenship  and  paid  none  of 
the  penalties  and  bore  none  of  the  burdens,  f 

The  Church  did  then  just  as  it  does  now,  in  principle,  in  set- 
ting up  certain  great  benefits  which  only  priests  might  ho^^e  to 
obtain,  and  then  enacting  that  certain  persons  were  forever  ineli- 
gible to  the  priesthood  /  and  the  same  or  quite  as  good  reasons 
were  given  for  denying  women  such  relief  from  the  penalties 
of  the  law  as  was  freely  extended  to  men,  as  are  given  to-day 
for  refusing  her  the  liberty,  emoluments,  and  benefits  that  are 
freely  accorded  to  the  most  imbecile  little  theological  student 
who  is  educated  by  the  needle  of  a  sister  and  supported  by 
money  wrung  from  the  fears  of  shop  or  factory  girls,  to  whom 
he  paints  the  terrors  of  hell,  and  freely  threatens  the  same  to 
those  who  disobey  him.  Salvation  comes  high,  but  no  preacher 
ever  gets  so  poor  that  he  cannot  distribute  hell  free  of  charge 
to  the  multitude  without  the  least  diminution  of  his  stock-in- 
trade. 

I  should  think  that  an  orthodox  pulpit  would  be  about  the 
last  place  a  self-respecting  woman  would  wish  to  fill ;  but  I  am 

*  Blackstone.  Christian. 

fit  still  claims  exemption  from  taxation,  thus  throwing  its  bur- 
den on  others ;  and  it  also  claims  immunity  from  the  very  gambling 
laws  which  it  so  rigidly  enforces  against  other  institutions. 


Education, 


101 


glad,  gince  there  are  some  who  do  so  wish,  that  the  issue  has 
again  been  forced  upon  the  Church,  and  that  in  1884,  true  to 
her  history,  she  was  again  compelled  to  acknowledge  herself  a 
respecter  of  persons,  a  degrader  of  women,  and  a  clog  to  pro- 
gress and  individual  liberty,  equality,  and  conscience. 

I  am  glad  that  women  have  recently  forced  the  Methodist 
and  Presbyterian  Churches  to  declare  their  principles  of  class 
preference  and  partial  legislation.  I  am  glad  that  in  1884  these 
Churches  were  compelled  to  say  in  effect  to  women,  so  that  the 
world  could  hear  :  '^'^You  are  not  and  you  never  can  be  our 
equals.  We  are  holy.  You  are  unclean.  We  will  hold  you 
back  and  down  to  the  ancient  level  we  made  for  you  just  as 
long  as  the  life  is  in  us  ;  and  if  you  ever  receive  recognition 
as  a  human  being,  it  must  be  at  the  hands  of  those  who  defy 
the  Church  and  hate  creeds  that  are  not  big  enough  to  go 
all  round.  Our  creeds  are  only  large  enough  to  give  each  sex 
half.  But  we  won't  be  stingy,  we  only  want  our  share.  You 
are  entirely  w^elcome  to  all  the  degradation  here  and  all  the 
damnation  hereafter  ;  and  any  man  w^ho  attempts  to  deprive 
you  of  these  blessings  is  a  heretic  and  a  sinner.    Let  us  pray/^ 


EDUCATION. 

In  dealing  with  this  point  the  humor  of  the  situation  is  too 
plain  to  require  comment,  and  I  need  only  cite  a  few  facts  in 
order  to  place  the  beautiful  little  fiction  where  it  belongs.* 

As  to  general  education  it  is  well  known  that  the  Church 
has  fought  investigation  and  persecuted  science.  From  the 
third  century  to  Bruno,  and  from  Bruno  to  Darwin  and  Tyn- 
dall  there  is  an  unbroken  chain  of  evidence  as  to  her  position 
in  these  matters  and  her  opposition  to  the  diffusion  of  knowl- 
edge. When,  however,  it  became  impossible  for  her  to  resist 
the  demand  of  the  people  for  education  ;  wdicn  she  could  no 
longer  retard  liberty  and  prevent  the  recognition  of  individ- 
*See  Appendix  T. 


102         Historical  Fads  and  Theological  Fictions. 


ual  rights ;  then  she  modestly  demanded  the  right  to  do  the 
teaching  herself  and  to  control  its  extent  and  scope.* 

With  a  brain  stultified  by  faithfshe  proposed  to  regulate 
investigations  in  which  the  habit  of  faith  would  necessarily 
prove  fatal  to  the  discovery  of  truth.t  She  proposed  to  teach 
nothing  but  the  dead  languages  and  theology^  and  to  confine 
knowledge  to  these  fields^  and  she  succeeded  for  many  genera- 
tions in  so  doing.  Everytime  she  found  a  man  who  had  dis- 
covered somethings  or  who  had  a  theory  he  was  trying  to  test 
by  some  little  scientific  investigations^  she  cried  heretic  and 
suppressed  that  man.  She  stuck  to  the  dead  languages^  and 
the  only  thing  she  is  not  afraid  of  to-day  is  something  dead. 
Any  other  kind  of  knowledge  is  a  dangerous  acquaintance  for 
her  to  make.§ 

If  you  meet  a  clergyman  to-day  who  has  devoted  his  time  to 
the  dead  languages  you  need  not  be  afraid  that  he  is  a  heretic  ; 
but  if  he  is  studying  the  sciences^  arts^  literature,  and  history 
of  the  living  world  in  earnest  you  can  get  your  fagot  ready. 
His  orthodoxy  is  a  dead  doxy.  It  is  only  a  question  of  time 
and  bravery  when  he  will  swear  off.|| 

In  the  Church  schools  and  universities  to-day  it  is  quite 
pathetic  to  hear  the  professors  wrestle  with  geology  and  Gene- 
sis, and  cut  their  astronomy  to  fit  Joshua.  If  in  one  of  these 
institutions  for  the  petrifaction  of  the  human  mind  there  is  a 
teacher  who  is  either  not  nimble  enough  to  escape  the  conclu- 
sions of  a  bright  pupil  or  too  honest  to  try,  he  is  at  once  found 
to  be  incompetent  as  an  instructor/^  and  is  dropped  from  the 
faculty.  I  knoAV  one  case  where  it  took  twenty  years  to 
discover  that  a  professor  was  not  able  to  teach  geology — and 
it  took  a  heresy-hunter  with  a  Bible  to  do  it  then. 

*  Sec  Appendix  G,  1-4. 
t  Sec  Appendix  U. 

J  See  Clifford's  "  Scientific  Basis  of  Morals,"  pp.  35-C. 
§  Sec  Morley's    Diderot,"  p.  190. 
II  Sec  Ibid,  p.  12G. 


Education. 


103 


But  it  is  the  claim  of  the  Church  in  regard  to  the  education 
of  women  with  which  I  have  to  do  here. 

Women  in  Greece  and  Eome  under  Pagan  rule  had  become 
learned  and  influential  to  an  unparalleled  degree.  * 

The  early  Fathers  of  the  Church  found  women  thirsty  for 
knowledge  and  eager  for  opportunities  to  learn.  They  there- 
upon set  about  making  it  disreputable  for  a  woman  to  know 
anything^  f  and  in  order  to  clinch '  their  prohibition  the 
Church  asserted  that  woman  was  unable  to  learn^  had  not  the 
mental  capacity^  J  was  created  without  mental  power  and  for 

*  See  Lecky,  Milman,  Diderot,  Morley,  Christian,  and  others. 

f  In  the  fourth  century  we  find  that  holy  men  in  council  gravely 
argued  the  question,  and  that  too  with  abundant  confidence  in  their 
ability  and  power  to  decide  the  whole  matter  :  *  Ought  women  to  be 
called  human  beings  ? '  A  wise  and  pious  father  in  the  Church,  after 
deliberating  solemnly  and  long  on  the  vexed  question  of  women, 
finally  concluded  :  '  The  female  sex  is  not  a  fault  in  itself,  but  a  fact 
in  nature  for  which  women  themselves  are  not  to  blame  but  he  gra- 
ciously cherished  the  opinion  that  women  will  be  permitted  to  rise  as 
men,  at  the  resurrection.  A  few  centuries  later  the  masculine  mind 
underwent  great  agitation  over  the  question  :  *  Would  it  be  consistent 
with  the  duties  and  uses  of  women  for  them  to  learn  the  alphabet  ? ' 
And  in  America,  after  Bridget  Gaffort  had  donated  the  first  plot  of 
ground  for  a  public  school,  girls  were  still  denied  the  ad  vantages  jof 
such  schools.  The  questions — *  Shall  women  be  allowed  to  enter  col- 
leges ? '  and  *  Shall  they  be  admitted  into  the  professions  ? '  have  been 
as  hotly  contested  as  has  been  the  question  of  their  humanity. " — 
Gamble, 

X  ' '  There  existed  at  the  same  time  in  this  celebrated  city  a  class  of 
women,  the  glory  of  whose  intellectual  brilliancy  still  survives  ;  and 
when  Alcibiades  drew  around  him  the  first  philosophers  and  states- 
men of  Greece,  *  it  w^as  a  virtue  to  applaud  Aspasia  ; '  of  whom  it  has 
been  said  that  she  lectured  publicly  on  rhetoric  and  philosophy  with 
such  ability  that  Socrates  and  Alcibiades  gathered  wisdom  from  her 
lips,  and  so  marked  was  her  genius  for  statesmanship  that  Pericles 
afterward  married  her  and  allowed  her  lo  govern  Athens,  then  at  the 
height  of  its  glory  and  power.  Numerous  examples  might  be  cited 
in  which  Athenian  women  rendered  material  aid  to  the  state."— 
Gamble. 


104         Historical  Facts  and  Theological  Fictio7is, 


purely  physical  purposes.  It  was  maintained  that  her  sphere 
was  clearly  defined^  and  that  it  was  purely  and  solely  an  animal 
one  ;  and  worst  of  all  it  was  stoutly  asserted  that  her  greatest 
crime  had  always  been  a  desire  for  wisdom,  and  that  it  was  this 
desire  which  brought  the  penalty  of  labor  and  death  into  this 
world.* 

With  such  a  belief  it  is  hardly  strange  that  the  education  of 
girls  was  looked  upon  as  a  crime ;  and  with  such  a  record  it  is 
almost  incredible  effrontery  that  enables  the  Church  to-day  to 
claim  credit  for  the  education  of  women,  f  If  she  were  to  edu- 
cate every  woman  living,  free  of  charge,  in  every  branch  of 
known  knowledge,  she  could  not  repay  woman  for  what  she 
has  deprived  her  of  in  the  past,  or  efface  the  indignity  she  has 
already  offered.  J 

A  prominent  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England,  who  was 
recently  much  honored  in  this  country,  lately  said,  in  a  ser- 
mon to  women  :  There  are  those  who  think  a  woman  can  be 
taught  logic.  This  is  a  mistake.  Men  are  logical,  women 
are  not.^^  He  was  too  modest  to  give  his  proofs.  It  seemed  to 
me  strange  that  he  did  not  mention  the  doctrines  of  the  trinity 
and  vicarious  atonement,  or  a  few  of  the  miracles,  as  the  result 
of  logic  in  the  masculine  mind.  And  I  could  not  help  thinking 
at  the  time  that  a  man  whose  mental  furniture  was  chiefly  com- 
posed of  the  thirty-nine  articles  and  the  Westminster  Catechism 
would  naturally  be  a  profound  authority  on  logic.  An  ortho- 
dox preacher  talking  about  logic  is  a  sight  to  arouse  the  com- 
passion of  a  demon.  Next  to  the  natural  sciences,  logic  can 
give  the  Church  the  colic  quicker  than  any  other  kind  of  a 
green  apple.  And  so  it  Is  not  strange  that  the  clergy  should  be 
afraid  that  it  would  disagree  with  the  more  delicate  constitution 
of  a  woman.    They  always  did  maintain  that  any  diet  that  was 

*See  Morley's     Diderot,"  p.  76;  Lea's    Sacerdotal  Celibacy;" 
Lecky's  '*EuroDean  Morals." 
t  See  Appendix  H,  1  to  4. 
X  Lecky,    European  Morals,"  p.  310. 


Education. 


105 


a  trifle  too  heavy  for  them  couldn^t  be  digested  by  anybody 
else  ;  and  they  would  be  perfectly  right  in  their  supposition  if 
intellectual  dyspepsia  or  softening  of  the  brain  were  contagious. 

The  sphere  of  no  other  creature  is  wholly  determined  and 
bounded  by  07ie  j^liysical  characteristic  or  capacity.  To  every 
other  creature  is  conceded  without  question  the  right  to  use 
more  than  one  talent. 

But  the  Fathers  decided  in  holy  and  solemn  council  that  it 
would  be  unbecoming  for  a  woman  to  learn  the  alphabet, 
and  that  she  could  have  no  possible  use  for  such  information. 
They  said  that  she  Avould  be  a  better  mother  without  distract- 
ing her  dear  little  brain  with  the  a,  b,  cs,  and  that  therefore  she 
should  not  learn  them.  They  also  decided  that  she  who  was  so 
far  lost  to  modesty  as  to  become  acquainted  with  the  multiplica- 
tion table  ^^was  an  unfit  associate  for  our  wives  and  mothers. 
There  was  something  wrong  with  such  a  woman.  She  was 
either  a    witch    or  else  she  was    married  to  the  devil. 

That  is  the  way  the  Church  encouraged  education  for  women. 
This  was  done,  the  holy  Fathers  said,  to  protect  women  from 
the  awful  temptations  of  life  to  which  the  Lord  in  his  infinite 
wisdom  had  subjected  man.^^  They  had  too  much  respect  for 
their  wives  and  mothers  to  permit  them  to  come  in  contact 
with  the  wickedness  of  long  division  or  cube  root,  and  they 
hoped  while  life  lasted  that  no  man  would  be  so  negligent  of 
duty  as  to  allow  his  sister  to  soil  her  pure  mind  with  conic 
sections. 

Well,  in  time  there  were  a  few  women  brave  enough,  and  a 
few  men  honorable  and  moral  enough,  to  set  aside  the  letter  of 
this  prohibition  ;  but  much  of  its  spirit  still  blossoms  in  all  its 
splendor  in  Columbia,  Harvard,  Yale,  and  various  other  insti- 
tutions of  learning,  where  women  are  either  not  permitted  to 
enter  at  all  or  are  required  to  learn  and  accomplish  unaided  that 
which  it  takes  a  large  faculty  of  instructors  and  every  known 
or  obtainable  educational  device  (together  with  future  business 
stimulus)  to  enable  the  young  men  to  do  the  same  thing  ! 


106 


Historical  Facts  and  Theological  Fictions. 


The  Fathers  said^  in  effect^  ^^It  was  through  woman  wanting 
to  know  something  that  sin  came  into  this  world ;  therefore  let 
her  hereafter  want  to  know  nothing/^  They  taught  that  ^ 
desire  for  knowledge  on  the  part  of  woman  was  the  greatest 
crime  ever  committed  on  this  earthy  and  that  it  so  enraged  God 
that  he  punished  it  by  death  and  by  every  curse  known  to  man. 
When  it  was  pointed  out  that  animals  had  lived  and  died  on 
this  earth  long  before  man  could  have  livedo  they  said  that 
God  knew  Adam  was  going  to  live  and  Eve  was  going  to  sin, 
so  he  made  death  retroactive  because  Adam  would  represent  all 
animals  when  he  should  be  created  ! 

All  this  was  thought  and  done  and  taught  in  order  to  agree 
with  the  silly  story  of  the  ^"^fall  of  man  in  the  Garden  of 
Eden/^  which  every  one  acquainted  with  the  simple  rudiments 
of  science  or  the  history  of  the  races  knows  to  be  a  childish 
legend  of  an  undeveloped  people.  Instead  of  a  ^^falP^  from 
perfect  beginnings,  there  has  been  and  is  a  constant  rise  in  the 
moral  as  well  as  in  the  mental  and  physical  conditions  of  man. 
The  type  is  higher,  the  race  nobler  and  nearer  perfection  than 
it  ever  was  before  ;  and  the  stories  of  our  Bible  are  the  same  as 
those  of  all  other  Bibles,  simply  the  effort  of  ignorant  or  imagi- 
native men  to  account  for  the  origin  and  destiny  of  things  of 
which  they  had  no  accurate  knowledge.* 

*  One  of  the  simplest  and  most  interesting  explanations  of  this  lat- 
ter point  will  be  found  in  '*The  Childhood  of  Religions,"  by  Edward 
Clodd,  F.RA.S.,  where  the  Christian  reader  may  be  surprised  to  find 
that  the  ten-commandment "  idea  (with  a  number  of  them  which 
apply  to  general  morals,  as  *'Thou  shalt  not  kill,"  etc.)  is  not  con- 
fined to  our  Bible,  but  is  found  also  in  the  Buddhist  Bible  in  the  same 
form;  that  the  "golden  rule"  was  given  by  Confucius  500  years 
before  Christ ;  and  that  Christianity,  when  taken  as  it  should  be  wit!i 
the  other  great  religions  and  examined  in  the  same  way,  presents  no 
problem,  no  claim,  and  no  proofs  which  are  not  found  in  equal 
strength  in  one  or  more  of  the  other  forms  of  faith.  In  the  matters 
of  morality,  miracles,  and  power  to  attract  and  "  comfort"  multitudes 
of  people,  it  ranks  neither  first  nor  last.  It  is  simply  one  of  several, 
and  in  no  essential  matter  is  it  different  from  them. 


Education. 


St.  Paul  said,  If  they  [women]  will  learn  anything,  let 
them  ask  their  husbands  at  home ;  and  the  colossal  ignorance 
of  most  women  would  seem  to  indicate  that  they  have  obeyed 
the  command  to  the  letter.  But  fortunately  for  women  the 
civilization  of  freedom  has  outgrown  St.  Paul  as  it  has  the 
dictates  of  the  Church,  and  one  by  one  the  doors  of  information, 
and  lience  the  doors  to  honest  labor,  have  been  opened,  and  the 
possibility  of  living  with  dignity  and  honor  has  replaced  the 
forced  degradation  of  the  days  when  the  power  of  the  Church 
enabled  it  to  reduce  women  to  the  animal  existence  it  so  long 
forced  upon  her. 

So  long  as  the  Church  allowed  woman  but  one  avenue  of 
support,  so  long  did  it  force  her  to  use  that  single  means  of 
livelihood.  So  long  as  it  made  her  believe  that  she  could  bring 
to  this  world  nothing  of  value  but  her  capacity  to  minister  to 
the  lower  animal  wants  of  man,  so  long  did  it  force  upon  her 
that  single  alternative — or  starvation. 

So  long  as  it  is  able  to  make  multitudes  of  women  believe 
themselves  of  value  for  but  one  purpose,  just  that  long  will  it 
continue  to  insure  the  degradation  of  many  of  those  women  who 
are  helpless,  or  w^eak,  or  loving,  or  ignorant  of  the  motives  of 
those  in  whose  power  they  are.  So  long  as  it  teaches  woman 
that  she  can  repay  her  debt  to  the  world  in  but  one  way,  so 
long  will  it  promote  commerce  in  vice  and  revenue  in  shame. 

Every  man  is  taught  that  he  can  repay  his  debt  to  this  world 
in  many  ways.  He  has  open  to  him  many  avenues  of  happi- 
ness, many  paths  to  honorable  employment.  If  he  fails  in  one 
there  is  still  hope.  If  he  misses  supreme  happiness  in  marriage 
he  has  still,  left  ambition,  labor,  study,  fame  ;  if  the  one  failure 
overtakes  him,  no  matter  how  sad,  he  still  can  turn  aside  and 
find,  if  not  joy,  at  least  occupation  and  rest. 

But  the  Church  has  always  taught  woman  that  there  is  but 
one  sphere, one  hope,  one  occupation,  one  life  for  her.  If 
she  fails  in  that,  w^hat  wonder  that  with  broken  hope  comes 
broken  virtue  or  despair  ?    Every  woman  who  has  fallen  or  lost 


108         Historical  Facts  and  Theological  Fictions, 


her  way  has  been  previously  taught  by  the  Church  that  she  liad 
and  has  but  one  resource  ;  that  there  is  open  to  her  in  Hfe  but 
one  path  ;  that  whether  that  path  be  legally  crooked  or  straight, 
she  was  created  for  but  one  purpose ;  that  7nan  is  to  decide  for 
Iter  ivliat  that  jpurpose  is  ;  and  that  she  must  under  no  circum- 
stances set  her  oivn  judg^nent  up  against  his. 

The  legitimate  fruits  of  such  an  education  are  too  horribly 
apparent  to  need  explanation.  Every  fallen  woman  is  a  perpe- 
tual monument  to  the  infamy  of  a  religion  and  a  social  custom 
that  narrow  her  life  to  the  possibilities  of  but  one  function, 
and  provide  her  no  escape — a  system  that  trains  her  to  depend 
wholly  on  one  physical  characteristic  of  her  being,  and  to  neglect 
all  else. 

That  system  teaches  her  that  her  mind  is  to  be  of  but  slight  use 
to  her ;  that  her  hands  may  not  learn  the  cunning  of  a  trade 
nor  her  brain  the  bearings  of  a  profession  ;  that  mentally  she  is 
nothing ;  and  that  physically  she  is  worse  than  nothing  only  in 
so  far  as  she  may  minister  to  one  appetite.  I  hold  that  the 
most  legitimate  outcome  of  such  an  education  is  to  be  found  in 
the  class  that  makes  merchandise  of  all  that  woman  is  taught 
that  she  possesses  that  is  of  worth  to  herself  or  to  this  world. 
No  system  could  be  more  perfectly  devised  to  accomplish  this 
purpose.* 

AS  WIVES. 

We  are  told  that  women  owe  honorable  marriage  to  Chris- 
tianity ;f  that  the  more  beautiful  and  tender  relations  of  hus- 
band and  wife  find  their  root  there  ;  that  Christianity  protects 
and  elevates  the  mother  as  no  other  law  or  religion  ever  has. 
Let  us  see. 

On  this  subject  I  find  in  Maine^s  Ancient  Law^^  these 
facts  : 

''Although  women  had  been  objects  of  barter  and  sale,  according 

*  See  Lea's  ''Sacerdotal  Celibacy." 
f  See  Appendix  I,  1-2. 


As  Wives. 


109 


to  barbaric  usages,  between  their  male  relatives,  the  later  Roman 
[Pagan]  law  having  assumed,  on  the  theory  of  Natural  Laiv,  the 
equality  of  the  control  of  the  person  of  women  was  quite 

obsolete  when  Christianity  was  born.  Her  situation  had  become  one 
of  great  personal  liberty  and  proprietary  independence,  even  when 
married,  and  the  arbitrary  power  over  her  of  her  male  relations, 
or  her  guardian,  was  reduced  to  a  nullity,  while  the  form  of  marriage 
conferred  on  the  husband  no  superiority.''' 

Thus  as  a  daughter  and  as  a  wife  had  she  grown  to  be  honored 
and  recognized  as  an  equal  under  Pagan  rule. 

^^But  Christianity  tended  from  the  first  to  narrow  this  remarkable 
liberty,  .  .  .  The  latest  Roman  [Pagan]  law,  so  far  as  touched 
by  the  constitutions  of  the  Christian  emperors,  bears  marks  of  reac- 
tion against  these  great  liberal  doctrines,"" — Maine, 

And  again  began  the  sale  of  women.  Christianity  held  her 
as  unclean  and  in  all  respects  inferior;  and  '^''during  the  era 
which  begins  modern  history  the  women  of  dominant  races  are 
seen  everywhere  under  various  forms  of  archaic  guardiansnip, 
and  tJie  husband  pays  a  money  price  to  her  male  relations  for 
her.  The  prevalent  state  of  religious  sentiment  may  explain 
why  it  is  that  modern  jurisprudence  has  absorbed  among  its 
rudiments  much  more  than  usual  of  those  rules  [archaic]  con- 
cerning the  ptosition  of  ivomen  which  belong  peculiarly  to  an 
imperfect  civilization,  — Ibid, 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  from  the  first,  and  extending  down 
to  the  present,  the  Church  did  all  she  could  to  cast  woman 
back  into  the  night  of  the  race  from  which  in  a  great  measure 
she  had  been  rescued  through  the  ages  when  Natural  Law  and 
not  revelation  was  the  guide  of  man.  The  laws  which  the 
Church  found  liberal  and  just  toward  women  it  discarded,  and 
it  searched  back  in  the  ages  of  night  for  such  as  it  saw  fit 
to  re-enact  for  her.  Of  this  Maine  says  :  ^^The  husband  now 
draws  to  himself  the  power  which  formerly  belonged  to  his 
wif  e^s  male  relatives,  the  only  difference  being  that  he  no  longer 
pays  anything  for  the  privilege.'^ 


110 


Historical  Facts  and  Theological  Fictions. 


As  Christians  grew  economical  wives  came  cheaper  than  for- 
merly^ and  it  became  a  dogma  that  wives  were  not  worth  much 
anyhow,  and  then,  too,  it  enabled  persons  of  limited  means  to 
have  more  of  them.  Of  a  somewhat  later  date  Maine  says  : 
^'^  At  this  poi7it  heavy  disabilities  begin  to  be  imposed  tqjon 
2vives/' 

That  was  to  make  marriage  honorable  and  attractive,  no 
doubt,  and,  says  Maine  :  It  was  very  long  before  the  subordi- 
nation entailed  on  women  by  marriage  was  sensibly  diminished,'^ 
And  what  diminution  it  received  came  from  men  who  fought 
agaifist  Church  law,^ 

It  was  only  the  crumbs  of  liberty,  honor,  and  justice  extorted 
by  men  who  fought  the  Church  on  behalf  of  wives,  that  light- 
ened their  most  oppressive  burdens.  It  w^as  true  then,  and  it 
is  true  to-day,  that  women  owe  what  justice  and  freedom  and 
power  they  possess  to  the  fact  that  the  best  and  clearest-headed 
men  are  more  honorable  than  our  religion,  and  that  they  have 
invited  Moses  and  St.  Paul  to  take  a  back  seat.  Moses  has 
complied,  and  St.  Paul  is  half-way  dow^n  the  aisle. 

Some  of  the  clergy  now  explain  that  although  Paul  may  have 
wTitten  certain  things  inimical  to  women,  he  did  not  meafi  them, 
so  it  is  all  right.  Such  passages  as  1  Cor.  xi.  3-9  ;  xiv.  34-35  ; 
andEph.  v.  22-24,  are  now  explained  to  be  intended  in  a  purely 
Pickwickian  sense  ;  and  a  Kev.  Mr.  Boyd,  of  St.  Louis,  has  even 
gone  so  far  as  to  produce  the  doughty  apostle  before  a  woman- 
suffrage  society,  as  on  their  side  of  that  argument.  This  second 
conversion  of  St.  Paul  impresses  one  as  even  more  remarkable 
than  his  first.  It  took  an  angel  of  God^^  to  show  him  the 
error  of  his  ways  in  Ephesus,  but  one  little  Baptist  preacher  did 
it  this  time — all  by  himself.  Truly  St.  Paul  is  getting  easier  to 
deal  with  than  he  used  to  be. 

But  to  resume,  Maine,  in  tracing  the  amalgamation  of  the 

*See  Lecky,  Maine,  Lea,  Milman,  Christian,  Blackstonc,  Morley, 
and  others  for  ample  proof  of  this  fact. 


As  Wives. 


Ill 


later  Eoman  (Pagan)  law  with  the  archaic  laws  of  a  lower 
civilization  (the  result  of  which  was  Christian  law);,  shows 
that  the  Church,  while  it  chose  the  Eoman  laws,  which  had 
arrived  at  so  high  a  state,  for  others,  retamed  for  women,  and 
particularly  for  tvives,  the  least  favorable  of  the  Eoman,  eked 
out  with  the  archaic  Patria  Potestas  and  the  more  degrading 
provisions  of  the  earlier  civilizations.  Maine  reluctantly  says 
that  the  jurisconsults  of  the  day  contended  for  better  laws  for 
wives,  but  that  the  Church  prevailed  in  most  instances,  and 
established  the  more  oppressive  ones. 

With  certain  of  these  laws — the  worst  ones — I  cannot  deal 
here  for  obvious  reasons  ;  but  a  few  of  them  I  may  be  per- 
mitted to  give  without  offence  to  the  modesty  of  any  one. 

Blackstone  says  :  By  marriage  the  husband  and  wife  are 
one  person  in  law  ;  that'  is,  the  very  being  or  legal  existence  of 
the  woman  is  suspended  during  the  marriage,  or  at  least  is 
incorporated  and  consolidated  into  that  of  the  husband.  The 
husband  becomes  her  haron  or  lord — she  his  servant.  Upon 
this  principle  of  the  union  of  person  in  husband  and  wife 
depend  almost  all  the  legal  rights,  duties,  and  disabilities  they 
acquire  by  marriage. 

That  is  to  say  the  husband  acquires  all  the  rights,  and 
the  wife  all  the  disabilities  ;  and  the  Church  wishing  to  be  fair 
has  made  the  latter  as  many  as  possible. 

And  therefore, continues  Blackstone,  ^'^it  is  also  generally 
true,  that  all  compacts  made  between  husband  and  wife, 
when  single,  are  voided  by  the  intermarriage,'^  The  working 
of  this  principle  has  been  so  often  illustrated  as  to  render 
comment  unnecessary.  A  wife  retains  no  rights  which  her 
husband  is  bound  to  respect,  no  matter  how  solemn  the  compact 
before  marriage,  nor  what  her  belief  in  its  strength  might 
have  been. 

Fortunately  for  women,  happily  for  wives,  men  are  more 
decent  than  their  religion  ;  and  the  law  of  custom  and  public 
opinion  has  largely  outgrown  this  enactment  of  the  Church, 


112       Historical  Facts  and  Theological  Fictions. 


made  when  she  had  the  power  to  thus  degrade  women  and 
brutalize  men. 

"  If  the  wife  be  injured  in  her  person  or  her  property  she  can 
brill g  no  action  for  redress  without  her  husband^s  concurrence 
a7id  in  his  name,''  and  on  the  basis  of  loss  of  her  services  to  him 
as  a  servant,  "But  in  criminal  prosecutions,  it  is  true,  the 
wife  may  he  indicted  and  punished  separately,'' 

In  the  case  of  punishment  the  Church  was  entirely  willing 
to  give  the  devil  his  due.  It  had  no  ambition  to  deprive 
women  of  any  indictments  and  punishments  that  were  to  be 
had.  In  this  case^  although  the  husband  and  wife  were  one, 
she  was  that  one.  Where  privileges  or  property-rights  were  to 
be  considered,  he  was  the  ^^one.^^  Such  grand  reversible 
doctrines  were  always  on  tap  with  the  clergy,  and  their  barrel 
was  always  full.    Truly,  wives  do  owe  much  to  the  Church. 

Some  of  the  provisions  of  these  laws  have,  of  late  years, 
been  modified  by  the  efforts  of  men  who  were  pronounced  in- 
fidels, destroyers  of  the  Bible,  the  home,  and  the  dignity  of 
women, aided  by  women  whom  the  orthodox  deride  as  "  strong- 
-minded,  ill-balanced,  coarse,  impious, etc.,  etc.,  ad  infinitum, 
ad  nauseam,  A  strong  mind,  whether  in  man  or  woman,  has 
always  been  to  the  clergy  as  a  red  rag  to  a  bull. 

A  woman  may  make  a  will,  with  the  assent  of  her  husband, 
by  way  of  appointment  of  her  personal  property.  She  cannot 
even  ivith  his  consent  devise  lands,  .  .  .  Although  our  law 
in  general  considers  a  man  and  wife  as  one  person,  yet  there 
are  some  instances  where  she  is  considered  separately  as  his 
inferior,"  f  and  for  that  trip  only. 

As  I  remarked  before  when  it  comes  to  penalties  she  is 
welcome  to  the  whole  lot. 

"  She  may  not  make  a  deed.^^ 

"  A  man  may  administer  moderate  correction  to  his  wife.^^ 
These  are  the  chief  legal  effects  of  marriage.    Even  the 


t  Ihid, 


As  Wives. 


113 


disabilities  of  the  wife/^  Blackstone  naively  remarks^  ^'^are 
for  the  most  part  intended  for  her  protectiofi ;  so  great  a  favorite 
is  the  female  sex  of  the  laws  of  England  ! 

I  should  think  that  if  this  latter  point  were  not  quite  clear 
to  a  woman,  ^^moderate  correction  might  convince  her  that 
she  was  quite  an  unreasonable  favorite — beyond  her  most  eager 
desires.  Where  the  Pagan  law  recognized  her  as  the  equal  of 
her  husband^  the  Church  discarded  that  law^  and  based  the 
Canon  Law  upon  an  archaic  invention. 

Where  Maine  speaks  of  the  later  growth  of  Pagan  law  and  of 
Christian  influence  upon  it,  he  says  :  But  the  chapter  of  law 
relating  to  married  women  was  for  the  most  part  read  by  the 
light,  not  of  Koman  [or  Pagan]  but  of  Canon  [or  Church]  Law, 
which  in  no  one  particular  dejjarts  so  widely  from  the  [improved] 
spirit  of  the  secular  jurisprudence  as  in  the  view  it  takes  of  the 
relations  created  by  marriage.  This  was  in  part  inevitable, 
since  no  society  which  jjossesses  any  tincture  of  Christian  insti- 
tutions is  likely  to  restore  to  married  women  the  personal  liberty 
conferred  on  them  by  the  middle  Roman  law,'' 

Women  who  support  the  clergy  with  one  hand,  and  hold  out 
the  other  for  the  ballot ;  who  one  day  express  indignation  at 
tlie  refusal  to  them  of  human  recognition,  and  the  next  day 
intone  the  creeds,  will  have  to  learn  that  there  is  nothing  which 
has  so  successfully  stood,  and  still  so  powerfully  stands,  in  the 
way  of  the  individual  liberty,  human  rights,  and  dignity  of 
wives,  as  the  Church  which  they  support. 

Blackstone  says  :  In  times  of  popery  a  great  variety  of 
impediments  to  marriage  were  made,  which  impediments  might, 
however,  be  bought  off  with  money,'' 

You  could,  for  instance,  buy  a  more  distant  relationship  to 
your  future  wife  for  so  much  cash  down  to  the  Church.  If 
your  inamorata  were  your  first  cousin,  you  could  remove  her 
several  degrees  with  five  hundred  dollars,  and  make  her  no 
relation  at  all  for  a  little  more.  Such  little  sleight-of-hand 
performances  are  as  nothing  to  a  well-trained  clergyman.  Slip 


114 


Historical  Facts  and  Theological  Fictions. 


a  check  into  one  hand^  and  a  request  to  marry  your  aunt  into 
the  other^  let  a  clergyman  shake  them  up  in  the  coffers  of  the 
Churchy  and  when  one  comes  out  gold^  the  other  will  appear  as 
a  blushing  bride  not  even  related  to  her  own  father,  and  not 
more  than  third  cousin  to  herself. 

Of  the  claim  made  by  the  early  Christian  Fathers,  that  it  was 
because  of  the  mental  inferiority  and  incapacity  of  women  that 
the  more  unjust  and  binding  laws  were  enacted  for  them,  thus 
doing  all  they  could  to  create  and  intensify  by  law  the  inca- 
pacity v/hich  they  asserted  was  imposed  by  God,  Maine  says  : 

But  the  proprietary  disabilities  of  married  females  stand  on 
quite  a  different  basis  from  persojial  incapacity,  and  it  is  by  the 
tendency  of  their  doctrines  to  keep  alive  and  consolidate  the 
former,  that  the  expositors  of  the  Canon  Laio  have  deeply 
injured  civilization,'^^ 

■  He  adds  that  there  are  many  evidences  of  a  struggle  between 
secular  princijjles  in  favor  of  justice  for  wives,  and  ecclesiastical 
23rincip)les  against  it,  "  but  the  Canon  Law  nearly  everywhere 
prevailed.  The  systems  which  are  least  indulgent  to  married 
women  are  invariably  those  which  have  followed  the  Canon 
Lau)  exclusively,  ...  It  enforced  the  complete  legal 
subjection  of  wives. 

Lecky  says  :  "  Fierce  invectives  against  the  sex  form  a  conspi- 
cuous and  grotesque  portion  of  the  writings  of  the  Fathers. 
Woman  was  represented  as  the  door  of  hell,  as  the  mother  of 
all  human  ills.  She  should  be  ashamed  at  the  very  thought 
that  she  is  a  woman.  .  .  .  Women  were  even  forbidden, 
in  the  sixth  century,  on  account  of  their  impurity,  to  receive 
the  Eucharist  into  their  naked  hands.  Their  essentially  sub- 
ordinate position  was  continually  maintained.  This  teaching 
in  part  determined  the  principles  of  legislation  concerning  the 
sex.*  The  Pagan  laws  during  the  empire  had  been  continually 
repealing  the  old  disabilities  of  women,  and  the  legislative 
movement  in  their  favor  continued  with  unabated  force  from 
*  See  Appendix  J. 


As  Wives. 


115 


Constantine  to  Justinian,  and  appeared  also  in  some  of  the 
early  laws  of  tlie  barbarians.  But  in  the  wJiole  feudal  [Ohris- 
tiau]  legislation  women  were  ijilaced  in  a  nmcli  lower  legal  posi- 
tion than  in  the  Pagan  emjjire,'' 

And  he  adds  that  the  French  revolutionists  (the  infidel 
party)  established  better  laws  for  women,  ^^and  initiated  a 
great  reformation  of  both  law  and  opinion,  tvhich  sooner  or 
later  must  traverse  the  world, And  these  reformations,  being 
in  Christendom,  will  be  calmly  claimed  in  the  future,  as  in  the 
present,  as  due  to  the  beneficent  influence  of  the  Church. 
The  Church  always  belongs  to  the  conservative  party,  but  after 
a  good  thing  is  established  in  despite  of  her,  she  says  :  Just 
see  what  I  have  done  !    '  See  what  a  good  boy  am  I !  ^ 

Not  many  years  ago  a  few  great-souled  men  who  were  "  here- 
tics got  a  glimpse  of  a  principle  which  has  electrified  the 
world.  They  said  that  individual  liberty  is  a  universal  right ; 
they  maintained  that  humanity  is  a  unit,  with  interests  and 
aims  indivisible,  and  that  liberty  to  use  to  the  utmost  advan- 
tage all  natural  abilities  cannot  be  denied  one-half  of  the  race 
without  crippling  both.  A  few  even  went  so  far  as  to  suggest 
that  the  assumption  of  the  inferiority  of  women,  and  the 
imposition  of  disabilities  upon  them,  under  the  claim  of  divine 
authority,  is  the  greatest  crime  in  the  great  calendar  of  crime 
for  which  the  Church  has  yet  to  render  a  reckoning  to  hu- 
manity. 

To  one  who  reads  the  history  of  Canon  Law,  it  is  not  strange 
that  Christian  Judges  still  decide  that  women  are  ^^incompe- 
tent to  practice  law,^^  and  that  they  should  not  be  allowed  to 
study  it.  A  woman  well  versed  in  the  history  of  ancient  and 
modern  law  might  easily  be  an  uncomfortable  advocate  for 
such  a  judge  to  face.  He  would  probably  feel  the  need  of  an 
umbrella. 

It  is  not  strange  that  Columbia  College,  with  its  corps  of 
clergymen,  fails  to  see  the  propriety  of  opening  its  doors  to 
women.    The  few  clergymen  who  have  for  some  little  time 


116 


Historical  Facts  and  Theological  Fictions. 


past  taken  the  side  of  fair-play  in  this  and  hke  matters  have 
simply  deserted  their  colors  and  come  over  to  the  side  they  are 
worldly-wise  enough  to  see  is  to  be  the  side  of  the  future. 
When  it  comes  to  diplomacy  the  Church  is  always  on  deck  in 
time  to  gather  in  the  spoils  ;  but  she  stays  safely  below  during 
the  engagement^  and  simply  holds  back  and  anchors  firm  until 
she  sees  which  way  it  is  likely  to  end. 

The  moment  there  is  an  understanding  on  the  part  of 
women  of  what  they  owe  to  Church  Law^  that  moment  will 
educational  clerical  monopolists^  such  as  the  champion  anchor 
of  Columbia,  be  compelled  to  earn  an  honest  living  in  some 
honest  business  pertaining  to  this  world.  It  will  be  a  great  day 
for  women  when  they  refuse  to  longer  support  these  pretenders 
to  divine  knowledge,  who  are  willing,  at  so  much  a  head,  to 
tell  what  they  do  not  know  at  the  expense  of  the  pale,  tired 
needlewoman,  who  is  in  want  of  almost  every  comfort  that 
money  can  buy  in  this  world,  together  with  the  surplus  gold  of 
the  fashionable  devotees  who  minister  to  the  vanity  of  the 
clergy,  and  give  to  the  coffers  of  the  Church  that  which  would 
save  thousands  of  young  girls  from  degradation  and  crime,  and 
put  the  roses  of  health  on  the  cheek  of  innocence. 

Every  dollar  that  is  paid  to  support  the  Church  is  paid  to 
degrade  a  woman.    Every  collection  that  is  made  to  spread 

revelation    is  used  to  suppress  enlightenment  and  retard 
civilization.    Every  dollar  that  is  invested  in    another  world 
is  a  dollar  diverted  from  useful  purposes  in  this.    Every  hour 
that  is  spent  mooning  about heaven   is  that  much  time  taken 
from  needed  labor  here. 

If  our  energies  were  wanted  in  another  world  we  should  most 
likely  be  in  another  world.  Since  we  are  in  this  one  it  is  a 
pretty  strong  hint  that  we  are  expected  to  attend  to  business 
right  here.  We  can^t  do  justice  to  two  worlds  at  the  same  time  ; 
and  since  we  are  assured  that  we  shall  have  the  whole  of  eter- 
nity to  arrange  matters  in  the  next  one,  it  leaves  very  little  time 
by  comparison  to  devote  to  our  duties  in  this. 


Not  Wo7nan^s  Friend. 


There  we  are  to  have  nothing  to  do  but  sing  and  be  happy — 
twang  a  harp  and  smile. 

Here  we  have  pain  to  alleviate^  ignorance  to  dispel^  inno- 
cence to  protect^  disease  to  master,  and  crime  to  restrain  and 
prevent.  Here  we  have  the  helpless  to  shield  and  guard  and 
protect.  Here  we  have  homes  to  make  happy,  the  hearts  of 
husbands  and  wives  to  make  glad,  the  light  of  love  and  trust  to 
kindle  in  the  eyes  of  children.  Here  is  old  age  to  cheer  and 
console.  Here  are  orphans  to  educate  and  protect,  widows  to 
comfort,  and  oppression  to  uproot. 

There — nothing  to  do  but  look  after  yourself  and  manage 
your  harp  ;  nobody  to  help — all  will  be  perfect ;  nothing  to 
learn — all  will  be  wise  ;  no  hearts  to  cheer — all  will  be  happy. 
All  that  a  mother  will  have  to  do  if  she  gets  a  little  tired  prac- 
ticing on  her  lyre  and  feels  gloomy  will  be  to  just  take  a  good 
look  over  the  wall,  and  photograph  on  her  eyes  the  picture  of 
her  husband  and  children  freshly  dipped  in  oil  and  put  on  the 
griddle,  and  she  will  comQ  back  to  business  perfectly  satisfied, 
take  up  her  song  where  she  left  off,  and  praise  the  Lamb  for 
his  infinite  mercy.  All  eternity  to  learn  how  to  fly  round  in  a 
robe  and  keep  time  with  the  orchestra  !  Why  a  deaf  man  could 
learn  to  do  that  in  fifty  or  sixty  years,  and  then  have  all  the 
rest  of  the  time  to  spare. 

We  are  here  such  a  little  while,  there  is  so  much  to  learn, 
there  is  so  much  to  do,  there  is  so  much  to  undo,  that  no  man 
can  afford  to  waste  his  time  on  an  infinite  future  of  time,  space, 
and  leisure.  Men  cannot  afford  to  lose  your  best  energies. 
^^God^^  can  get  on  very  well  without  them.  Time  is  short, 
and  needs  are  pressing ;  and  this  thing  you  know — you  can 
keep  busy  doing  good  right  here.  If  there  is  a  hereafter,  could 
there  be  a  better  preparation  for  it  than  that  ? 

NOT  woman's  friend. 

After  all  that  has  preceded  this  page  I  need  hardly  do  more 
with  this  count  of  the  last  claim  of    Theological  Fiction  than 


118 


Historical  Facts  and  Theological  Fictions. 


simply  say,  if  the  Bible  is  woman's  best  friend,  then  the  clergy, 
without  authority  and  in  violation  of  the  precepts  of  their  own 
guide,  have  been  her  worst  enemy,  either  through  malice  or 
ignorance  ;  in  either  of  which  cases  they  are  and  have  always 
been  unfit  to  dictate,,  to  lead  opinion,  or  to  receive  a  following 
as  reliable  guides  for  this  world  or  the  next. 

If  they  have  been  so  ignorant  or  so  malicious  for  nearly  nine- 
teen hundred  years  as  to  thus  systematically  misconstrue  their 
own  authority — their  own  revelation — to  the  constant  dis- 
advantage of  women  (and  the  consequent  enfeeblement  of  the 
race),  surely  they  can  claim  no  respect  for  their  opinions  and 
no  confidence  in  their  divine  calling.*  In  trying  to  shield  the 
Bible  the  clergy  simply  convict,  themselves,  f 

But  I  incline  to  the  opinion  that  in  the  main  this  view  of  the 
case  is  unfair  to  the  clergy,  and  that  they  have  followed,  in 
spirit  if  not  literally,  the  dictates  of  the  Bible  as  a  whole.  It  is 
undoubtedly  true  that  the  Bible  throughout  holds  woman  as 
an  inferior  in  both  mental  and  moral  characteristics  ;  and  upon 
this  understanding  of  it  the  Fathers  built  the  Church  and 
crystallized  the  laws. 

The  Fathers  of  the  Church  were  as  a  rule  a  bad  lot  them- 
selves. All  contemporaneous  history  and  all  internal  evidence 
prove  this  fact :  and  when  we  remember  that  the  Prophets'^ 
were  almost  to  a  man  polygamists ;  that  their  belief  and  practices 
in  this  regard  were  of  the  order  and  type  of  Mormondom  to-day, 
and  for  the  same  reasons  ;  that  they  were  slave-holders  and  slave- 
stealers ;  that  they  believed  in  a  God  of  infinite  cruelty  and 
revenge — of  arbitrary  will  and  reasonless  barbarity;  and  that 
they  were  licentious  and  brutal  beyond  description  \\  it  will  be 
easy  to  understand  the  position  which  such  men — with  these 
beliefs,  practices,  mentality,  and  moral  degradation — would 
accord  to  women.    Every  Bible  of  every  people  ;  every  history 


Bee  Appendix  K.  t  See  Appendix  L. 

:|:  See  Appendix  M. 


Not  Woman^s  Friend, 


119 


of  every  race  showing  like  civilization^  will  show  you  like 
results. 

In  the  New  Testament  we  find  an  effort  to  readjust  old 
clothes  to  a  new  body,  some  of  whose  members  had  grown  bet- 
ter and  some  worse  in  dogma  and  belief.  Where  women  are 
especially  dealt  with  we  find  them  commanded  to  be  under 
obedience/^  and  always  to  subject  their  wills  to  the  ways  and 
wills  of  men  ;  while  the  general  tone  and  treatment  are  always 
based  upon  the  assumption  that  she  is  an  inferior,  a  secondary 
creation,  and  a  subject  class.* 

That  this  is  the  understanding  of  the  Bible  always  recognized 
by  the  Church  (and  to-day  questioned  by  only  a  very  small 
minority  who  are  shrewd  enough  to  see  the  necessity  of  revamp- 
ing it  to  fit  the  new  public  morality  and  civilization),  all  his- 
tory attests ;  but  the  vehemence  with  which  the  doctrine  has 
been  asserted  the  foregoing  pages  can  only  faintly  indicate,  f 

But  certainly,  if  for  thousands  of  years  the  clergy  have,  as  a 
body,  misconstrued  or  misunderstood  the  spirit  of  their  own 
book  (to  which  they  have  always  claimed  to  possess  the  only 
key),  they  should  not  blame  those  who  to-day  take  issue  with 
them  upon  their  information,  their  dictates,  their  hasis  of 
morality,  or  their  interpretations  of  the  rights  of  humanity. 

If,  as  they  claim  to-day,  the  Bible  is  the  friend  of  women 
and  no  respecter  of  persons,  a  conclusion  which  it  took  them 
hundreds  of  years  to  reach,  it  has  taken  them  too  long  to  dis- 
cover the  fact  for  their  guidance  to  be  either  a  desirable  or  a 
safe  one  for  humanity  ;  and  the  millions  of  women  they  have 
degraded  and  oppressed  in  the  past  are  certainly  not  an  argu- 
ment in  favor  of  their  infallibility  now.  J 

Let  them  give  way  to  men  who,  claiming  no  right  to  divine 
authority  or  superhuman  wisdom,  speak  in  the  interest  of  all 
humanity  the  best  they  know  (always  acknowledged  to  be  sub- 


*  See  Appendix  N.  \  See  Appendix  O. 

X  See  Appendix  P. 


120 


Historical  Facts  and  Theological  Fictions, 


ject  to  revision  for  the  better)  ;  who  are  not  bound  back  and 
retarded  by  the  outgrown  toggery  of  the  Jewish  civihzation  of 
David  and  his  time  or  the  Christian  dictatorship  of  Paul.* 
Acknowledging  themselves  as  false  and  oppressive  interpreters 
of  divine  law  for  centuries  past  is  but  a  poor  recommendation 
of  their  ability  or  integrity  for  the  future. 

Whichever  horn  of  the  dilemma  they  accept^  there  is  but  one 
honorable  course  for  the  clergy  to  pursue^,  and  that  is  to  resign 
in  favor  of  those  who  have  all  along  been  on  the  right  tracks 
without  a  pretence  of  divine  guidance ;  who  in  despite  of  faith 
and  fagot  have  made  progress  possible. 

MORALS.! 

After  my  lecture  on  Men^  Women^  and  Gods,  in  Chicago,  I 
was  asked  how  it  would  be  possible  to  train  children  to  be  good 
without  a  belief  in  the  divinity  of  the  Bible ;  how  they  could 
be  made  to  know  it  is  wrong  to  lie  and  steal  and  kill. 

The  belief  that  the  Bible  is  the  originator  of  these  and  like 
moral  ideas,  or  that  Christ  was  their  first  teacher,  is  far  from 
the  truth  ;  and  it  is  only  another  evidence  of  the  duplicity  or 
ignorance  of  the  Church  that  such  a  belief  obtains  or  that  such 
a  falsehood  is  systematically  taught. 

It  is  too  easily  forgotten  that  morals  are  universal,  that 
Christianity  is  local.  Practical  moral  ideas  grow  up  very 
early,  and  develop  with  the  development  of  a  race.  They 
are  the  response  to  the  needs  of  a  people,  and  when  formu- 
lated have  in  several  cases  taken  the  shape  of  command- 
ments^^ from  some  unseen  power.  These  necessary  practical 
laws  are  by  degrees  attached  to  those  of  imaginary  value,  and 
all  alike  are  held  in  esteem  as  of  equal  moral  worth.  By  this 
means  a  ficticious  standard  of  right  and  wrong  becomes  estab- 
lished, and  a  weakening  of  confidence  in  the  valueless  part 

*  See  Appendix  Q.    f  See  Appeuclices  T  and  Y. 


Morals. 


121 


results  in  damage  to  that  portion  which  was  originally  the  result 
of  wise  and  necessary  legislation.* 

When  children  (of  whatever  age)  do  this  or  that  because 
God  said  so/^  the  precepts  taught  on  this  basis^  even  though 
they  are  good^  will  have  no  hold  upon  the  man  who  discovers 
that  their  origin  was  purely  human.  It  is  a  dangerous  experi- 
ment, and  depends  wholly  upon  ignorance  for  its  success.  A 
firm  basis  of  reason  in  this  world  is  the  only  solid  foundation  of 
moral  training. 

My  Chicago  questioner  proceeded  upon  the  hypothesis  that 
what  of  valuable  morals  are  contained  in  the  Bible  were  a  "  reve- 
lation to  one  people,  and  that  their  value  was  dependent  upon 
this  origin.  For  the  benefit  of  those  who  have  been  similarly 
imposed  upon,  I  will  cite  a  few  facts  in  as  short  space  as  pos- 
sible. 

Brahmanism,  with  its  two  hundred  millions  of  believers,  and 
its  Eig-Veda  (Bible)  composed  two  thousand  four  hundred 
years  before  Christ,  has  its  rigid  code  of  morals  ;  its  theory  of 
creation ;  its  teachings  about  sin ;  its  revelations  ;  its  belief  in 
the  ability  of  the  gods  to  forgive  ;f  its  belief  that  its  bible  came 
from  God  ;  and  its  devotees  who  believe  that  an  infinite  God  is 
pleased  with  the  toys  of  worship,  praise,  and  adulation  of  man. 
It  has  its  prayers  and  hymns,  its  offerings  and  sacrifices.  Cor- 
responding with  our    Trinity   idea  the  Brahmin  has  his  three 

*  Durable  morality  had  been  associated  with  a  transitory  religious 
faith.  The  faith  fell  into  intellectual  discredit,  and  sexual  morality 
shared  its  decline  for  a  short  season.  This  must  always  be  the  natural 
consequence  of  building  sound  ethics  on  the  shifting  sands  and  rotting 
foundations  of  theology.  It  is  one  of  those  enormous  drawbacks  that 
people  seldom  take  into  account  when  they  are  enumerating  the 
blessings  of  superstition," — Morley's    Diderot,"  p.  71. 

f  Prof essor  Max  Miiller  says  that  **the  consciousness  of  sin  is  a 
leading  feature  in  the  religion  of  the  Veda,  so  is  likewise  the  belief 
that  the  gods  are  able  to  take  away  from  man  the  heavy  burden  of 
his  sins." 


122 


Historical  Facts  and  Theological  Fictions, 


great  gods  ;  and  in  place  of  our  angels  he  has  his  infinite 
number  of  little  ones.* 

Next^  Zoroastrianism^  certainly  twelve  hundred  years  older 
than  Christ,  has  its  legends  (quite  as  authentic  as  our  own)  of 
miracles  performed  by  its  founder  and  his  followers  ;  its  Zend- 
Avesta  (Bible)  ;  its  Supreme  Spirit  f  its  belief  in  gods  and 
demons  who  interfere  with  affairs  in  this  world  and  who  are 
ever  at  war  with  each  other  ;  its  sacred  fires  ;  its  Lord  ;  its 
praise  ;  and  its  pretence  to  direct  communication  in  the  jmst 
with  spirits  and  with  gods  who  gave  their  Prophet  ^^com- 
mandments/^f  It  lacks  none  of  the  paraphernalia  of  a  divine 
institution  ready  for  business,  and  we  are  unable  to  discount  it 
in  either  loaves  or  fishes.  It  also  has  its  heaven  and  hell ;  J  its 
Messiah  or  Prophet ;  its  arch  fiend  or  devil ;  its  rites  and 
ceremonies. 

Professor  Max  Mliller  remarks  :  There  were  periods  in  the 
history  of  the  world  when  the  worship  of  Ormuzd  threatened 
to  rise  triumphant  on  the  ruins  of  the  temples  of  all  other  gods. . 
If  the  battles  of  Marathon  and  Salamis  had  been  lost  and 
Greece  had  succumbed  to  Persia,  the  state  religion  of  the  empire 

*See  Edward  Clodd,  F.R.A.S.,    Childhood  of  Religions." 

t  **Inthe  Gathas  or  oldest  part  of  the  Zend-Avesta,  which  contains 
the  leading  doctrines  of  Zoroaster,  he  asks  Ormuzd  [Godl  for  truth  and 
guidance,  and  desires  to  know  what  he  shall  do.  He  is  told  to  be  pure 
in  thought,  word,  and  deed  ;  to  be  temperate,  chaste,  and  truthful ;  to 
offer  prayer  to  Ormuzd  and  the  powers  that  fight  with  him  ;  to  destroy 
all  hurtful  things  ;  and  to  do  all  that  will  increase  the  well-being  of 
mankind.  Men  were  not  to  cringe  before  the  powers  of  darkness  as 
slaves  crouch  before  a  tyrant,  they  were  to  meet  them  upstanding, 
and  confound  them  by  unending  opposition  and  the  power  of  a  holy 
life.  *0h  men,  if  you  cling  to  these  commandments  which  Mazda 
has  given,  which  are  a  torment  to  the  wicked  and  a  blessing  to  the 
righteous,  then  there  will  be  victory  through  them.'" — Max  Muller, 

if  In  this  old  faith  there  was  a  belief  in  two  abodes  for  the  departed  : 
heaven,  the  *  house  of  the  angels'  hymns,'  and  hell,  wliere  the 
wicked  were  sent.    Between  tJie  two  there  was  a  bridge." — Ihid. 


Morals. 


123 


of  Cyrus,  which  was  the  worship  of  Ormuzd,  might  have  become 
the  religion  of  the  whole  civilized  world/^ 

In  which  case  my  Chicago  friend  would  have  asked,  ^^If  you 
destroy  a  belief  in  Ormuzd,  and  that  he  gave  the  only  super- 
natural moral  law  to  Zoroaster,  how  will  children  ever  be  taught 
what  is  right  and  what  is  wrong,  and  how  can  they  ever  know 
that  it  is  not  right  to  lie  and  kill  and  steal  ? 

Their  creed  is  of  the  simplest  kind ;  it  is  to  fear  God,  to 
live  a  life  of  pure  thoughts,  pure  words,  pure  deeds,  and  to  die 
in  the  hope  of  a  world  to  come.  It  is  tlie  creed  of  those  who 
have  lived  nearest  to  God  and  served  himfaithfullest  in  every  age^ 
and  wherever  they  dwell  who  accept  it  and  practice  it,  they 
bear  witness  to  that  which  makes  them  children  of  God  and 
brethren  of  the  prophets,  among  whom  Zoroaster  was  not  the 
least.  The  Jews  were  carried  away  as  captives  to  Babylon  some 
600  years  before  Christ,  and  during  the  seventy  years  of  their 
exile  there,  they  came  into  contact  with  the  Persian  religion 
and  derived  from  it  ideas  about  the  immortality  of  the  soul, 
which  their  own  religio7i  did  not  contain.  They  also  borroived 
from  it  their  belief  i7i  a  multitude  of  angels,  and  in  Satan  as 
the  ruler  over  evil  spirits/'  [So  you  see  that  even  our  devil  is  a 
borrowed  one,  and  it  now  seems  to  be  about  time  to  return  him 
with  thanks.  ]  The  ease  with  which  man  believes  in  unearthly 
powers  working  for  his  hurt  prepares  a  people  to  admit  into  its 
creed  the  doctrine  of  evil  spirits,  and  although  it  is  certain  that 
the  Jews  had  no  belief  in  such  spirits  before  their  captivity  in 
Babylon,  they  spoke  of  Satan  (which  means  an  adversary)  as  a 
messenger  sent  from  God  to  watch  the  deeds  of  men  and  accuse 
them  to  Ilim  for  their  wrong-doing.  Satan  thus  becoming  by 
degrees  an  object  of  dread,  upon  whom  all  the  evil  which  befell 
man  was  charged,  the  minds  of  the  Jews  were  ripe  for  accepting 
the  Persian  doctrine  of  Ahriman  with  his  legions  of  devils. 
Ahriman  became  the  Jewish  Satan,  a  belief  in  ivhom  formed 
part  of  early  Christian  doctrine,  and  is  now  but  slowly  dying 
out.    Wlmt  fearful  ills  it  has  caused,  history  has  many  a  page 


124         Historical  Facts  and  Theological  Fictions. 


to  tell.  The  doctrine  that  Satan^  once  an  angel  of  hght,  had 
been  east  from  heaven  for  rebelHon  against  God,  and  had 
ever  since  played  havoc  among  mankind,  gave  rise  to  the  belief 
that  he  and  his  demons  could  possess  the  souls  of  men  and 
animals  at  pleasure.  Hence  grew  the  belief  in  wizards  and 
witches,  under  which  millions  of  creatures,  both  young  and  old, 
were  cruelly  tortured  and  put  to  death.  We  turn  over  the 
smeared  pages  of  this  history  in  haste,  thankful  that  from  such 
a  nightmare  the  world  has  wakened.  * 

The  world  has  awakened,  but  the  Church  still  snores  on, 
confident  and  happy  in  the  belief  that  she  has  a  devil  all  her 
own,  and  that  he  is  attending  strictly  to  business. 

Next  we  have  Buddhism,  wliicli  numbers  more  followers  than 
any  other  faith.  It  is  five  hundred  years  older  than  Chris- 
tianity. It  has  its  prophet  or  Messiah  who  was  exposed  to  a 
tempter,!  and  overcame  all  evil ;  its  fastings  and  prayers ;  its 
miracles  and  its  visions.  Of  Buddha^s  teachings  Prof.  Max 
Miiller  tells  us  that  he  used  to  say,  Nothing  on  earth  if 
stable,  nothing  is  real.  Life  is  as  transitory  as  a  spark  of  fire^ 
or  the  sound  of  a  lyre.  There  must  be  some  supreme  intelli- 
gence where  we  could  find  rest.  If  I  attained  it  I  could  bring 
light  to  men.   If  I  were  free  myself  I  could  deliver  the  world. 

*Clodd,  F.R.A.S. 

t  Afterward  the  tempter  sent  his  three  daughters,  one  a  winning 
girl,  one  a  blooming  virgin,  and  one  a  middle-aged  beauty,  to  allure 
him,  but  they  could  not.  Buddha  was  proof  against  all  the  demon's 
arts,  and  his  only  trouble  was  whether  it  were  well  or  not  to  preacli 
his  doctrines  to  men.  Feeling  how  hard  to  gain  was  that  which  he 
had  gained,  and  how  enslaved  men  were  by  their  passions  so  that 
they  might  neither  listen  to  him  nor  understand  him,  he  had  well- 
nigh  resolved  to  be  silent,  but,  at  the  last,  deep  compassion  for  all 
beings  made  him  resolve  to  tell  his  secret  to  mankind,  that  they  too 
might  be  free,  and  he  thus  became  the  founder  of  the  most  j^^ular 
religion  of  ancient  or  modern  times.  The  spot  where  Buddha 
obtained  his  knowledge  became  one  of  the  most  sacred  places  in 
India."— CZofZd. 


Morals, 


125 


Buddha,  like  Christ,  wrote  nothing,  and  the  doctrines  of  the 
new  religion  were  fixed  and  written  by  his  disciples  after  his 
death.  Councils  were  held  afterwards  to  correct  errors  and 
send  out  missionaries.     You  will  see,  therefore,  that  even 

revisions  are  not  a  product  of  Christianity,  and  that  reve- 
lations   have  always  been  subject  to  reform  to  fit  the  times.  * 

I  will  here  give  a  few  of  the  wise  or  kind  or  moral  com- 
mands of  Buddha.  If  the  first  were  followed  in  Christian  coun- 
tries we  should  be  a  more  moral  and  a  less  superstitious  people 
than  we  are  to-day. 

Buddha  said  :  ^  The  succoring  of  mother  and  father,  the 
cherishing  of  child  and  ivife,  and  the  follotoing  of  a  laivful 
calling,  this  is  the  greatest  blessing,' 

'  The  giving  alms,  a  religious  life,  aid  rendered  to  relations, 
blameless  acts,  this,  is  the  greatest  blessing.^ 

" '  The  abstaining  from  sins  and  the  avoiding  them,  the 
eschewing  of  intoxicating  drink,  diligence  in  good  deeds, 
reverence  and  humility,  contentment  and  gratefulness,  this 
is  the  greatest  blessing.^ 

"  '  Those  who  having  done  these  things,  become  invincible  on 
all  sides,  attain  happiness  on  all  sides.  This  is  the  greatest 
blessing.^ 

" '  He  who  lives  a  hundred  years,  vicious  and  unrestrained,  a 
life  of  one  day  is  better  if  a  man  is  virtuous  and  reflecting.^ 

^^^Let  no  man  think  lightly  of  evil,  saying  in  his  heart,  it- 
will  not  come  near  unto  me.  Even  by  the  falling  of  water- 
drops  a  water-pot  is  filled ;  the  fool  becomes  full  of  evil  if  he 
gathers  it  little  by  little.' 

***Two  other  councils  were  afterward  held  for  the  correction  of 
errors  that  had  crept  into  the  faith,  and  for  sending  missionaries  into 
other  lands.  The  last  of  these  councils  is  said  to  have  been  held  251 
years  before  Christ,  so  that  long  before  Christianity  was  founded  we 
have  this  great  religion  with  its  sacred  traditions  of  Buddha's  words, 
its  councils  and  its  missions,  besides,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  many 
things  strangely  Uke  the  rites  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church."— CZodd. 


126 


Historical  Facts  and  Tlieological  Fictions. 


"  ''Not  to  commit  any  sm,  to  do  good^  and  to  purify  one's 
mind^  tliat  is  the  teaching  of  the  Awakened/  (This  is  one  of 
the  most  solemn  verses  among  the  Buddhists). 

"  ^Let  us  live  happily  then,  not  hating  those  who  hate  us  ! 
Let  us  dwell  free  from  hatred  among  men  who  hate  !  ^. 
/    "After  these  doctrines  there  folloio  ten  commandments,  of 
/  which  the  first  five  apply  to  all  people,  and  the  rest  chiefly  to 
{    such  as  set  themselves  apart  for  a  religious  life.    They  are: 
not  to  hill ;  not  to  steal ;  not  to  commit  ad%iltery  /  not  to  lie  ;  not 
to  get  drunk  ;  to  abstain  from  late  meals  ;  from  public  amuse- 1 
ments  ;  from  expensive  dress  ;  from  large  beds  ;  and  to  accept 
neither  gold  nor  silver. 

Keep  in  mind  that  Buddha  lived  more  than  500  years  hefore 
Christ. 

^^The  success  of  Buddhism  was  in  this:  It  was  a  protest 
against  the  powers  of  the  priests ;  it  to  a  large  degree  broke 
dotvn  caste  by  declaring  that  all  men  are  equal,  and  by  allowing 
any  one  desiring  to  live  a  holy  life  to  become  a  priest.  It  abol- 
ished sacrifices  ;  made  it  the  duty  of  all  men  to  honor  their 
parents  and  care  for  their  children,  to  be  kind  to  the  sick  and 
poor  and  sorrowing,  and  to  forgive  their  enemies  and  return 
good  for  evil ;  it  spread  a  spirit  of  charity  abroad  which  encom- 
passed the  lowest  life  as  well  as  the  highest.  f 

With  these  before  him  will  a  Christian  suppose  that  morals 
are  dependent  upon  our  Bible  ? 

Of  Confucianism,  believed  by  millions  to  be  essential  to  their 
salvation,  and  one  of  the  three  state  religions  of  China,  Clodd 
says:  ^'^On  the  soil  of  this  great  country  there  is  crowded 
nearly  half  the  human  race,  the  most  orderly  people  on  the 
globe.  This  man  (Confucius),  who  was  reviled  in  life,  but 
whose  influence  sways  the  Mmdreds  of  7nillions  of  China,  was 
born  551  years  before  Christ,  Ilis  nature  was  so  beautifully 
simple  and  sincere  that  he  would  not  ])retend  to  knowledge  of 
that  which  he  felt  was  beyond  human  reach  and  thought,'^ 

*  Clodd.  I  Ihid, 


Morals. 


What  an  earthquake  there  would  be  if  our  clergymen  where 
only  to  become  inoculated  with  that  sort  of  simple  sincerity  ! 
His  disciples  and  followers  did  that  for  him  as  has  been  done 
in  most  other  cases. 

The  ^acred  books  of  China  are  called  the  Kings,  and  are 
five  in  number,  containing  treatises  on  morals,  books  of  rites, 
poems,  and  history.  They  are  of  great  age,  perhaps  as  old  as 
the  earliest  hymns  of  the  Rig- Veda,  and  are  free  from  any  im- 
pure tliou gilts,  [Which  is  much  more  than  can  be  said  of  our 
own  sacred  books,  which  are  not  so  old.]  In  the  Book  of  Poetry 
are  three  hundred  pieces,  but  the  design  of  them  all  may  be 
embraced  in  that  one  sentence,  'Have  no  depraved  tliouglits,^ 

At  the  time  when  Confucius  lived,  China  was  divided  into 
a  number  of  petty  kingdoms  whose  rulers  were  ever  quarrelling, 
and  although  he  became  engaged  in  various  public  situations  of 
trust,  the  disorder  of  the  State  at  last  caused  him  to  resign 
them,  and  he  retired  to  another  part  of  the  country.  He  then 
continued  the  life  of  a  public  teacher,  instructing  men  in  the 
simple  moral  truths  by  which  he  sought  to  govern  his  own  life. 
The  purity  of  that  life,  and  the  example  of  veneration  for  the 
old  laws  which  he  set,  gathered  round  him  many  grave  and 
thoughtful  men,  who  worked  with  him  for  the  common  good.^^ 

Confucius  said  among  other  wise  and  moral  things  :  ''  Coarse 
rice  for  food,  water  to  drink,  the  bended  arm  for  a  pillow — 
happiness  may  be  enjoyed  even  with  these  ;  but  without  virtue, 
both  riches  and  honor  seem  to  me  like  the  passing  cloud.  .  ,  . 
Our  passions  shut  up  the  door  of  our  souls  against  God.^^ 

What  we  are  pleased  to  call  ^Hhe  golden  rule,^^  and  to  look 
upon  as  purely  Christian,  he  gave  in  these  words  500  years 
before  Christ  was  born  :  ^^Tsze-kung  said,  'What  I  do  not  wish 
men  to  do  to  me,  I  also  ivish  not  to  do  to  7nenJ  The  Master 
said,  ^  You  have  not  attained  to  that.^ 

^^Such  is  the  power  of  words,  that  those  uttered  by  this 
intensely  earnest  man,  whose  work  was  ended  only  by  death, 
have  kept  alive  throughout  the  vast  empire  of  China  a  rever- 


128 


Historical  Facts  and  Theological  Fictions. 


ence  for  the  past  and  a  sense  of  ditty  to  the  present  which  have 
made  the  Chinese  the  most  orderly  and  moral  people  in  the 
world/^ 

So  much  for  the  great  religions  that  are  older  than  our  own 
and  could  not  have  borrowed  from  us.  So  much  for  the  moral 
sentiments  of  the  peoples  who  developed  them^  and  who  live 
and  die  happy  with  them  to-day.  It  leaves  only  a  small  part 
of  this  globe  and  a  comparatively  small  number  of  its  inhabi- 
tants who  believe  in  and  are  guided  by  the  Bible,  or  by  the 
morality  which  has  grown  side-by-side  with  it. 

But  there  is  one  other  great  religion  which  is  of  interest 
to  us  :  * 

^^And  the  value  of  Islam,  the  youngest  of  the  great  relig- 
ions, is  that  we  are  able  to  see  how  its  first  simple  form  became 
overlaid  with  legend  and  foolish  superstition,  and  thus  learn 
how,  in  like  manner,  myth  and  fable  have  grown  around 
more  ancient  religions  [and  around  our  own] . 

^^For  example  ;  although  Mohammed  came  into  the  world 
like  other  children,  wonderful  things  are  said  to  have  taken 
place  at  his  birth. 

He  never  claimed  to  be  a  perfect  man  ;  he  did  not  pretend 
to  foretell  events  or  to  work  miracles. 

^^In  spite  of  all  this,  his  followers  said  of  him,  while  he 
was  yet  living,  that  he  worked  wonders,  and  they  believed  the 
golden  vision,  hinted  at  in  Koran,  to  have  been  a  real  event, 
although  Mohammed  said  over  and  over  again  that  it  was  but 
a  dream. 

This  religion  is  the  guide  in  life  and  the  support  in  death 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  our  fellow  creatures  ;  like 
Christianity,  it  has  its  missionaries  scattered  over  the  globe,  and 
offers  itself  as  a  faith  needed  by  all  men. 

"  The  success  of  Islam  was  great.  Not  one  hundred  years 
after  the  death  of  the  prophet,  it  had  converted  half  the  tlien 

*  See  Appendix  R. 


Morals. 


129 


known  world,  and  its  green  flag  waved  from  China  to  Spain. 
Christianity  gave  way  before  it,  and  has  never  regained  some 
of  the  ground  then  lost,  while  at  this  day  we  see  Islam  making 
marked  progress  in  Africa  and  elsewhere.  Travelers  tell  us 
that  the  gain  is  great  when  a  tribe  casts  away  its  idols  and 
embraces  Islam.  Filth  and  drunkenness  flee  away,  and  the 
state  of  the  people  is  bettered  in  a  high  degree. 

Muslims  have  not  treated  Christ  as  we  have  treated  Mo- 
hammed, for  the  devout  among  them  never  utter  his  name 
without  adding  the  touching  words,  ^  on  whom  be  peace. 

Mohammed  counseled  men  to  live  a  good  life,  and  to 
strive  after  the  mercy  of  God  by  fasting,  charity,  and  prayer, 
which  he  called  '  the  key  of  paradise.^ 

He  abolished  the  frightful  practice  of  killing  female 
children,  and  made  the  family  tie  more  respected. 

He  said  :  A  man's  true  wealth  hereafter  is  the  good  he  has 
done  in  this  ivorld  to  his  felloiv-men.  When  he  dies,  people 
will  ask.  What  property  has  he  left  behind  him?  But  the 
angels  will  ask.  What  good  deeds  has  he  sent  before  him  ? 
[Which  is  a  doctrine  wholesome  and  just,  so  for  as  it  applies  to 
this  world,  and  inculcates  the  right  sort  of  morals.  ] 

"  Mohammed  commanded  his  followers  to  make  no  image 
of  any  living  thing,  to  show  mercy  to  the  weak  and  orphaned, 
and  kindness  to  brutes  ;  to  abstain  from  gambling,  and  the 
use  of  strong  drink. 

"  The  great  truth  which  he  strove  to  make  real  to  them 
was  that  God  is  one,  that,  as  the  Koran  says,  ^they  surely  are 
infidels  who  say  that  God  is  the  third  of  three,  for  there  is  no 
God  but  one  God.^^^ 

He  was  the  great  original  Unitarian. 

"\  should  add  that  the  wars  of  Islam  did  not  leave  waste 
and  ruin  in  their  path,  but  that  the  Arabs,  when  they  came 
to  Europe,  alone  held  aloft  the  light  of  learning,  and  in  the 
once  famous  schools  of  Spain,  taught  ^philosophy,  medicine, 
astronomy,  and  the  golden  art  of  song.' 


130         Historical  Facts  and  Theological  Fictions. 


We  cannot  speak  so  well  of  the    holy  wars^'  of  Christianity. 

In  speaking  of  the  men  who  wrote  our  Bible,  Clodd  says  : 
^^Nor  is  it  easy  to  find  in  what  they  have  said  truths  which,  in 
one  form  or  another,  have  not  been  stated  by  the  writers  of 
some  of  the  sacred  books  into  which  we  have  dipped/^ 

I  have  quoted  more  fully  than  had  been  my  intention  simply 
to  show  the  egotistic  ignorance  of  the  Christian's  claim  to 
possess  a  religion  or  a  Bible  which  differs,  in  any  material 
regard,  from  several  others  which  are  older,  and  to  indicate  that 
moral  ideas,  precepts,  and  practices  are  the  property  of  no 
special  people,  but  are  the  inevitable  result  of  continued  life 
itself,  and  the  evolution  of  civilizations  however  different  in 
outward  form  and  expression.  They  are  the  necessary  results 
of  human  companionship  and  necessities,  and  not  the  fruits 
of  any  religion  or  the  revelation from  on  high  to  any 
people.  As  William  Kingdon  Clifford,  F.  K.  S.,  in  his  work 
on  the    Scientific  Basis  of  Morals,'^  very  justly  says  : 

ce  There  is  more  than  one  moral  sense,  and  what  I  feel  to  be 
right  another  man  may  feel  to  be  wrong. 

In  just  the  same  way  our  question  about  the  best  con- 
science will  resolve  itself  into  a  question  about  the  purpose  or 
function  of  the  conscience — why  we  have  got  it,  and  what  it 
is  good  for. 

^^Now  to  my  mind  the  simplest  and  clearest  and  most  pro- 
found philosophy  that  was  ever  written  upon  this  subject  is  to 
he  found  in  the  2d  and  3d  chapters  of  Mr.  Darwin's  '  Descent 
of  Man.^  In  these  chapters  it  appears  that  just  as  most  physi- 
cal characteristics  of  organisms  have  been  evolved  and  pre- 
served because  they  were  useful  to  the  individual  in  the  struggle 
for  existence  against  other  individuals  and  other  species,  so  this 
particular  feeling  has  been  evolved  and  preserved  because  it  is 
useful  to  the  tribe  or  community  in  the  struggle  for  existence 
against  other  tribes,  and  against  the  environment  as  a  whole. 
The  function  of  conscience  is  the  preservation  of  the  tribe  as  a 
tribe.    And  we  shall  rightly  train  our  consciences  if  we  learn 


Morals. 


131 


to  approve  these  actions  which  tend  to  the  advantage  of  the 
community. 

The  virtue  of  purity^  for  example^  attains  in  this  way  a 
fairly  exact  definition  :  purity  in  a  man  is  that  course  of  con- 
duct which  makes  him  to  be  a  good  husband  and  father^  in  a 
woman  that  which  makes  her  to  be  a  good  wife  and  mother,  or 
which  helps  other  people  so  to  prepare  and  keep  themselves. 
It  is  easy  to  see  how  many  false  ideas  and  pernicious  precepts 
are  swept  away  by  even  so  simple  a  definition  as  that.^^ 

In  urging  the  necessity  of  a  more  substantial  basis  of  morals 
than  one  built  upon  a  theory  of  arbitrary  dictation,  he  says  : 

The  worship  of  a  deity  who  is  represented  as  unfair  or 
unfriendly  to  any  portion  of  the  community  is  a  wrong  thing, 
however  great  may  be  the  threats  and  promises  by  which  it  is 
commended.  And  still  worse,  the  reference  of  right  and 
wrong  to  his  arbitrary  will  as  a  standard,  the  diversion  of  the 
allegiance  of  the  moral  sense  from  the  community  to  him,  is 
the  most  insidious  and  fatal  of  social  diseases.  .  .  .  If  I  let 
myself  believe  anything  on  insufficient  evidence,  there  may  be 
no  great  harm  done  by  the  mere  belief ;  it  may  be  true  after 
all,  or  I  may  never  have  occasion  to  exhibit  it  in  outward  acts. 
But  I  cannot  lielp  doing  this  great  wro7ig  toward  Man,  that 
I  make  myself  crednlous.  The  danger  to  society  is  not  merely 
that  it  should  believe  wrong  things,  though  that  is  great 
enough ;  but  that  it  should  become  credulous,  and  lose  the 
habit  of  testing  things  and  inquiring  into  them  ;  for  then  it 
must  sink  back  into  savagery. 

^'The  harm  which  is  done  by  credulity  in  a  man  is  not  con- 
fined to  the  fostering  of  a  credulous  character  in  others,  and 
consequent  support  of  false  beliefs.  Habitual  want  of  care 
about  what  I  believe  leads  to  habitual  want  of  care  in 
others  about  the  truth  of  what  is  told  to  me.  Men  speak  the 
truth  to  one  another  when  each  reveres  the  truth  in  his  own 
mind  and  in  the  other's  mind  ;  but  how  shall  my  friend  revere 
the  truth  in  my  mind  when  I  myself  am  careless  about  it,  when 


132        Historical  Facts  and  Theological  Fictions. 


I  believe  things  because  I  want  to  believe  them,  and  because 
they  are  comforting  and  pleasant  ?  Will  he  not  learn  to  cry, 
^  Peace/  to  me,  when  there  is  no  peace  ?  By  such  a  course  I 
shall  surround  myself  with  a  thick  atmosphere  of  falsehood  and 
fraud,  and  in  that  I  must  live.  It  may  matter  little  to  me,  in 
my  cloud-castle  of  sweet  illusions  and  darling  lies  ;  but  it 
matters  much  to  Man  that  I  have  made  my  neighbors  ready  to 
deceive.    The  credulous  man  is  father  to  the  liar.    .    .  . 

We  all  suffer  severely  enough  from  the  maintenance  and 
support  of  false  beliefs  and  the  fatally  wrong  actions  which  they 
lead  to  ;  and  the  evil  born  when  one  such  belief  is  entertained 
is  great  and  wide.  But  a  greater  and  wider  evil  arises  when 
the  credulous  character  is  maintained  and  supported,  when  a 
habit  of  believing  for  unworthy  reasons  is  fostered  and  made 
permanent.    .    ,  . 

The  fact  that  believers  have  found  joy  and  peace  in  believ- 
ing gives  us  the  right  to  say  that  the  doctrine  is  a  comfortable 
doctrine,  and  pleasant  to  the  soul ;  but  it  does  not  give  us  the 
right  to  say  that  it  is  true.    .    .  . 

"  And  the  question  which  our  conscience  is  always  asking 
about  that  which  we  are  tempted  to  believe  is  not,  '  Is  it  com- 
fortable and  pleasant  ?  ^  but,  '  Is  it  true  ?  ^ 

The  sooner  moral  actions  and  the  necessity  of  clean,  helpful, 
and  charitable  living  are  put  upon  a  basis  more  solid  and  per- 
manent than  theology  the  better  will  it  be  for  civilization  ;  and 
if  this  chapter  shall,  by  its  light  style,  attract  the  attention  of 
those  who  are  too  busy,  or  are  disinclined  for  any  reason  whatso- 
ever, to  collect  from  more  profound  works  the  facts  here  given, 
I  shall  be  satisfied  with  the  result,  because  I  shall  have  done 
something  toward  the  triumph  of  fact  over  fiction. 

We  cannot  repeat  too  often  nor  emphasize  too  strongly  this 
one  simple  fact,  that  we  need  all  our  energy  and  time  to  make 
this  world  fit  to  live  in  ;  to  make  homes  where  mothers  are 
happy  and  children  are  glad — homes  where  fathers  hasten  when 
their  work  is  done,  and  are  welcomed  with  a  shout  of  joy. 


Morals. 


133 


The  toilers  who  wend  up  the  hillside, 
The  toilers  below  in  the  mill 

Alike  are  the  victims  of  priestcraft, 
They    do  but  the  Master's  will." 

The  Master's  will !  ah  the  cunning*. 

The  bitterly  cruel  device. 
To  wring-  from  the  lowly  and  burdened 

Submission  at  any  price  ! 

Submission  to  tyrants  in  Russia — 
Submission  to  tyrants  in  Rome  ; 

The  throne  and  the  altar  have  ever 
Combined  to  despoil  the  home. 

But  the  home  is  the  heaven  to  live  for^ 
And  Love  is  the  God  sublime 

Who  paints  in  tints  of  glory, 
Upon  the  wings  of  Time 

This  legend,  grand  and  simple, 
And  true  as  eternal  Right — 
No  Justice  e'er  came  from  Jury, 
Whose  verdict  was  based  on  might ! 

As  high  above  earth  as  is  heaven  ; 

i\  s  high  as  the  stars  above 
The  Church,  the  chapel,  the  altar  ; 

Is  the  home  whose  God  is  Love, 


Appendix  A. 

1.  For  a  species  increases  or  decreases  in  numbers^  widens 
or  contracts  its  habitat,  migrates  or  remains  stationary,  C07itinues 
an  old  mode  of  life  or  falls  into  a  new  one,  under  the  combined 
influence  of  its  intrinsic  nature  and  the  environing  actions, 
inorganic  and  organic. 

Beginning  with  the  extrinsic  factors,  we  see  that  from  the 
outset  several  kinds  of  them  are  variously  operative.  They 
need  but  barely  ennumerating.  AVe  have  climate,  hot,  cold,  or 
temperate,  moist  or  dry,  constant  or  variable.  We  have  surface, 
much  or  little  of  which  is  available,  and  the  available  part  of 
which  is  fertile  in  greater  or  less  degree  ;  and  we  have  configur- 
ation of  surface,  as  uniform  or  multiform.  ...  On  these  sets 
of  conditions,  inorganic  and  organic,  characterizing  the  environ- 
ment,  primarily  depends  the  possibility  of  social  evolution  J' — 
Spencer,  "  Principles  of  Sociology, vol.  1,  p.  10. 

2.  These  considerations  clearly  prove  that  of  thetwopri- 
mary  causes  of  civilization,  the  fertility  of  the  soil  is  the  one  which 
in  the  ancient  world  exercised  most  influence.  But  in  European 
civilization,  the  other  great  cause,  that  is  to  say,  climate,  has 
been  the  most  powerful. 

Owing  to  circumstances  which  I  shall  presently  state,  the 
only  progress  which  is  really  effective  depends,  not  upon  the 
bounty  of  nature,  but  upon  the  energy  of  man.  Therefore  it 
is,  that  the  civilization  of  Europe,  which,  in  its  earliest  stage, 
was  governed  by  climate,  has  shown  a  capacity  of  development 


136 


Appendix. 


unknown  to  those  civilizations  which  were  originated  by  soiL^' 
— Buclcle,     History  of  Civilization/'^  vol.  1,  p.  36 — 37.* 


Appekdix  B. 

1.  "  Napoleon  himself  was  indifferent  to  Christianity^  but  he 
saAV  that  the  clergy  were  friends  of  despotism/^ — BuchU, 

2.  ^^Thus  it  is  that  a  careful  survey  of  history  will  prove 
that  the  Eef  ormation  made  the  most  progress  not  in  those  coun- 
tries where  the  people  were  most  enlightened^  but  in  those 
countries  where^  from  political  causes^  the  clergy  were  least 
able  to  withstand  the  people/^ — Buchle. 

3.  Christian  civilization  in  the  twentieth  century  of  its 
existence^  degrades  its  women  to  labor  fit  only  for  beasts  of 
the  field ;  harnessing  them  with  dogs  to  do  the  most  menial 
labors ;  it  drags  them  below  even  tliis^  holding  their  woman- 
hood up  to  sale^  putting  both  C%nrcli  and  State  sanction  upon 
their  moral  death  ;  which,  in  some  places,  as  in  the  city  of  Ber- 
lin, so  far  recognizes  the  sale  of  women^s  bodies  for  the  vilest 
purposes  as  ^?r^r^  of  tlie  Christian  religion,  that  license  for  this 
life  is  refused  until  they  have  partaken  of  the  Sacrament ;  and 
demands  of  the  ^10,000  licensed  women  of  the  town  ^  of  the 
city  of  Hamburg,  certificates  showing  that  they  regula.rly 
attend  church  and  also  partake  of  the  sacrament/^ — Gage, 

Even  a  lower  depth  than  this  is  reached  in  England,  France, 
Italy,  Switzerland,  and  Germany,  and  nearly  every  country  of 
Europe,  says  the  same  writer,  system  of  morality  which 
declares  '  the  necessity  ^  of  woman^s  degradation,  and  annually 
sends  tens  of  thousands  down  to  a  death  from  which  society 
grants  no  resurrection/^ — Gage, 

*  I  wish  to  state  here  that  I  had  never  read  the  above  from  Buckle, 
nor  had  I  seen  anywhere  a  statement  so  hke  my  own,  at  the  time  mine 
was  written.  I  read  this  for  the  first  time  while  reading  the  proofs  of 
this  chapter.    So  much  for  what  may  appear  plagiarism. — if.  ft 


Appendix  0. 

1.  Sapplio  flourished  b.  c.  600,  and  a  little  later ;  and  so 
highly  did  Plato  value  her  intellectual,  as  well  as  her  imagina- 
tive endowments,  that  he  assigned  her  the  honors  of  sage  as 
well  as  poet ;  and  familiarly  entitled  her  the  ^  tenth  muse/^^ — 
Buclcle, 

2.  Wilkinson  says  among  no  ancient  people  had  women 
such  influence  and  liberty  as  among  the  ancient  Egyptians/^ — 
Buclcle. 

3.  The  Americans  have  in  the  treatment  of  women  fallen 
below,  not  only  their  own  democratic  principles,  but  the  prac- 
tice of  some  parts  of  the  Old  World.'' — Harriet  Marti7ieau. 

4.  ^''Mr.  F.  Newman  denies  that  Christianity  has  improved 
the  position  of  women  ;  and  he  observes  that,  '  with  Paul,  the 
sole  reason  for  marriage  is,  that  a  man  may,  without  sin,  vent 
his  sensual  desires.  He  teaches  that,  btit  for  this  object,  it 
would  be  better  not  to  marry  f  and  he  takes  no  notice  of  the 
social  pleasures  of  marriage.  Newman  says  :  '  In  short,  only 
in  countries  where  Germanic  sentiment  has  taken  root  do  we 
see  marks  of  any  elevation  of  the  female  sex  superior  to  that  of 

/agan  antiquity.''' — BtccJcle, 
5.     Female  voices  are  never  heard  in  the  Eussian  churches  ;  f 
their  place  is  supplied  by  boys  ;  women  do  not  yet  stand 
high  enough  in  the  estimation  of  the  churches    ....    to  I 
/    be  permitted  to  sing  the  praises  of  God  in  the  presence  of  men."^ 
^  —A^oJil 

C).  ''Christianity  diminished  the  influence  of  women."— 
Neander,  ''Hist,  of  the  Church." 


138 


Ajjpendix. 


APPEisDIX  D. 

Within  the  reign  of  the  present  sovereign  Mrs.  Gage  tells  us 
of  a  young  girl  being  ordered  by  the  Petty  Sessions  Bench  back 
to  the  service  of  a  landlord,  from  whom  she  had  run  away 
because  such  service  meant  the  sacrifice  of  her  honor.  She 
refused  to  go  mid  loas  put  in  jail. 


Appendix  E. 

1.  Women  were  taught  by  the  Church  and  State  alike,  that 
the  Feudal  Lord  or  Seigneur  had  a  right  to  them,  not  only 
against  themselves,  but  as  against  any  claim  of  husband  or 
father.  The  law  known  as  Marclietta,  or  Marquette,  compelled 
newly-married  women  to  a  most  dishonorable  servitude.  They 
were  regarded  as  the  rightful  prey  of  the  Feudal  Lord  from  one 
to  three  days  after  their  marriage,  and  from  this  custom,  the 
oldest  son  of  the  serf  was  held  as  the  son  of  the  lord,  ^  as  per- 
chance it  was  he  who  begat  him.^  From  this  nefarious  degra- 
dation of  woman,  the  custom  of  Borough-English  arose,  in 
which  the  youngest  son  became  the  heir.  .  .  .  France, 
Germany,  Prussia,  England,  Scotland,  and  all  Christian  coun- 
tries where  feudalism  existed,  held  to  the  enforcement  of  Mar- 
quette. The  lord  deemed  this  right  as  fully  his  as  he  did  the 
claim  to  half  the  crops  of  the  land,  or  to  half  the  wool  of  the 
sheep.  More  than  one  reign  of  terror  arose  in  France  from  the 
enforcement  of  this  law,  and  the  uprisings  of  the  peasantry 
over  Europe  during  the  twelfth  century,  and  the  fierce  Jac- 
querie, or  Peasant  Wars,  of  the  fourteenth  century  in  France 
owed  their  origin,  among  other  causes,  to  the  enforcement  of 
these  claims  by  the  lords  upon  the  newly-married  wife.  The 
edicts  of  Marly  transplanted  that  claim  to  America  when  Can- 
ada was  under  the  control  of  France.  To  persons  not  conver- 
sant with  the  history  of  feudalism,  and  of  the  Church  for  the 


Appendix  E. 


139 


first  fifteen  hundred  years  of  its  existence^  it  will  seem  impossible 
that  such  foulness  could  ever  have  been  part  of  Christian  civili- 
zation. That  the  crimes  they  have  been  trained  to  consider  the 
worst  forms  of  heathendom  could  have  existed  in  Christian 
Europe,  iqolield  by  both  Church  and  State  for  more  than  a 
thousand  five  hundred  years,  will  strike  most  people  with 
incredulity.  Such,  however,  is  the  truth ;  we  can  but  admit 
well-attested  facts  of  history,  how  severe  a  blow  soever  they  strike 
our  preconceived  beliefs. 

"  Marquette  was  claimed  by  the  Lords  Spiritual,*  as  well  as 
by  the  Lords  Temporal.  The  Church,  indeed,  teas  the  bulivarh 
of  this  base  feudal  claim.  With  the  power  of  penance  and 
excommunication  in  its  grasp,  this  demand  could  neither  have 
originated  nor  been  sustained  unless  sanctioned  by  the  Church. 
.  .  .  These  customs  of  feudalism  were  the  customs  of  Christi- 
anity during  many  centuries.  (One  of  the  Earls  of  Crawford, 
known  as  the  '  Earl  Brant,  ^  in  the  sixteenth  century,  was  prob- 
ably among  the  last  who  openly  claimed  by  right  the  literal 
translation  of  droit  de  Jamhage,)  These  infamous  outrages 
upon  woman  were  enforced  under  Christian  law  by  both  Church 
and  State. 

^^The  degradation  of  the  husband  at  this  infringement  of 
the  lord  spiritual  and  temporal  upon  his  marital  right,  has  been 
pictured  by  many  writers,  but  history  has  been  quite  silent 
upon  the  despair  and  shame  of  the  wife.  No  hope  appeared 
for  woman  anywhere.    The  Church    ....    dragged  her 

*  **In  days  to  come  people  will  be  slow  to  believe  that  the  law 
among  Christian  nations  went  beyond  anything  decreed  concerning 
the  olden  slavery ;  that  it  wrote  down  as  an  actual  right  the  most 
grievous  outrage  that  could  ever  wound  mail's  heart.  The  Lords 
Spiritual  (clergy)  had  this  right  no  less  than  the  Lords  Temporal.  The 
parson^  being  a  lord,  expressly  claimed  the  first  fruits  of  the  bride, 
but  was  willing  to  sell  his  right  to  the  husband.  The  Courts  of  Berne 
openly  maintain  that  this  right  grew  up  naturally." — Michelet,  "La 
Sorcerie,"  p.  63. 


140 


Appendix. 


to  the  lowest  depths,  through  the  vileness  of  its  priestly  cus- 
toms. .  .  .  We  who  talk  of  the  burning  of  wives  upon 
the  funeral  pyres  of  husbands  in  India,  may  well  turn  our 
eyes  to  the  records  of  Christian  countries/^ — Matilda  Joslyn 
Gage  in  ^MVoman,  Church,  and  State/^ 

2.  From  this  point  Mrs.  Gage  calls  attention  to  the  various 
efforts  to  throw  olf  this  degrading  custom.  The  women  held 
meetings  at  night,  and  among  other  things  travestied  the  cele- 
bration of  Mass  and  other  Church  customs  ;  but  the  end  and  aim 
of  these  meetings  being  a  protest  and  rebellion  against  Marquette, 
the  clergy  called  those  who  took  part  in  them  witches  ;  *  and 
then  and  there  began  the  persecution  which  the  Church  carried 
on  against  women  under  this  disguise  (under  Catholic  and 
Protestant  rule  alike),  which  extended  down  to  the  latter  part 
of  the  last  century,  with  its  list  of  horrors  and  indignities 
extending  over  all  Christian  countries  and  blossoming  in  all 
their  vigor  in  our  own  eastern  States,  upheld  by  Luther,  John 
Wesley,  and  Baxter,  who  unfortunately  had  not  at  that  time 
entered  into  the  everlasting  rest  of  the  Saints.  And,  true  to 
these  noble  and  wise  leaders,  the  Churches  which  they  founded 
are  to-day  expressing  the  same  sentiments  (in  principle)  in 
regard  to  the  honor  and  dignity  and  position  of  woman.  The 
arguments  of  the  Eev.  Dr.  Craven,  the  prosecutor  in  the 
famous  Presbyterian  trial  of  1876,  which  are  given  by  Mrs. 
Gage,  together  with  numerous  other  similar  ones,  fully  estab- 
lish the  fact  that  woman  is  to  the  Church  what  she  always 
was — so  far  as  secular  law  loill  'permit.  And  numerous  in- 
stances (such  as  the  Buckley  exhibition  at  the  last  Methodist 
Conference,  in  which  he  was  sustained  by  the  Conference) 
prove  that  they  have  learned  nothing  since  1876. 

*  There  are  few  superstitions  which  have  been  so  universal  as  a 
belief  in  witchcraft.  The  severe  theology  of  paganism  despised  the 
wretched  superstition,  which  has  been  greedily  believed  by  millions 
of  Christians." — Buckle, 


Appendix  F. 


141 


3.  I  wish  I  might  copy  here  the  sermon  to  women  which  the 
Rev.  Knox-Little^  the  well-known  High-Church  clergyman  of 
England,  preached  when  in  this  country  in  1880,  in  which  he 
said,  There  is  no  crime  which  a  man  can  commit  which  justi- 
fies his  wife  in  leaving  him.  It  is  her  duty  to  subject  herself  to 
him  always,  and  no  crime  that  he  can  commit  can  justify  her 
lack  of  obedience. Although  a  little  balder  in  statement  than 
are  most  utterances  of  orthodox  clergymen  in  this  age,  yet  in 
sentiment  and  in  the  reason  given  for  it  the  echo  of  Amen 
comes  from  every  pulpit  where  a  believer  in  original  sin,  vica- 
rious atonement,  or  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible  has  a  represen- 
tative and  a  voice.  If  self-respect  or  honor  is  ever  to  be  the 
lot  of  woman,  it  will  not  be  until  her  foot  is  on  the  neck  of 
orthodoxy,  and  when  the  Bible  ranks  where  it  belongs  in  the 
field  of  literature. 


Appendix  F. 

1.  The  French  government,  about  the  middle  of  the  eight- 
eenth century,  seems  to  have  reached  the  maturity  of  its  wicked- 
ness, allowing  if  not  instigating  religious  persecutions  of  so 
infamous  a  nature  that  they  would  not  be  believed  if  they  were 
not  attested  by  documents  of  the  courts  in  which  the  sentences 
were  passed.  — BiichU. 

2.  Of  Louis  XV.,  the  eminently  Christian  king  of  France, 
Buckle  eays  :  ^^His  harem  cost  more  than  100,000,000  francs, 
and  was  composed  of  little  girls.    He  was  constantly  drunk, 
and    turned  out  his  own  illegitimate  children  to  prostitute 
themselves. 

3.  It  will  hardly  be  believed  that,  when  sulphuric  ether 
was  first  used  to  lessen  the  pains  of  childbirth,  it  was  objected 
to  as  ^  a  profane  attempt  to  abrogate  the  primeval  curse 
pronounced  upon  woman.  .  .  .  The  injury  which  the 
theological  principle  has  done  to  the  world  is  immense.  It  ha^g 
prevented  men  from  studying  the  laws  of  nature." — Buchle, 


142 


Appendix. 


Appendix  G. 

1.  The  narrow  range  of  their  sympathies  [the  clergy^s]^  and 
the  intellectual  servitude  they  have  accepted^  render  them  pecu- 
liarly unfitted  for  the  office  of  educating  the  young,  which  they 
so  persistently  claim,  and  which,  to  the  great  misfortune  of  the 
worldy  they  were  long  permitted  to  monopolize.  .  .  .  The 
almost  complete  omission  from  female  education  of  those  studies 
which  most  discipline  and  strengthen  the  intellect,  increases  the 
difference,  while  at  the  same  time  it  has  been  usually  made  a 
main  object  to  imbue  them  with  a  passionate  faith  in  traditional 
opinions,  and  to  preserve  them  from  all  contact  with  opposing 
views.  But  contracted  knowledge  and  imperfect  sympathy  are 
not  the  sole  fruits  of  this  education.  It  has  always  been  the 
peculiarity  of  a  certain  kind  of  theological  teaching,  that  it 
inverts  all  the  normal  principles  of  judgment  and  absolutely 
destroys  intellectual  diffidence.  On  other  subjects  we  find,  if 
not  a  respect  for  honest  conviction,  at  least  some  sense  of  the 
amount  of  knowledge  that  is  requisite  to  entitle  men  to  express 
an  opinion  on  grave  controversies.  A  complete  ignorance  of  the 
subject-matter  of  a  dispute  restrains  the  confidence  of  dogma- 
tism ;  and  an  ignorant  person  who  is  aware  that,  by  much  read- 
ing and  thinking  in  spheres  of  which  he  has  himself  no  knowl- 
edge, his  educated  neighbor  has  modified  or  rejected  opinions 
which  that  ignorant  person  had  been  taught,  will,  at  least  if 
he  is  a  man  of  sense  or  modesty,  abstain  from  compassionating 
the  benighted  condition  of  his  more  instructed  friend.  But 
on  theological  questions  this  has  never  been  so. 

^^Unfaltering  belief  being  taught  as  the  first  of  duties,  and  all 
doubt  being  usually  stigmatized  as  criminal  or  damnable,  a  state 
of  mind  is  formed  to  which  we  find  no  parallel  in  other  fields. 
Many  men  and  most  women,  though  completely  ignorant  of  the 
very  rudiments  of  biblical  criticism,  historical  research,  or  scien- 
tific discoveries,  though  they  have  never  read  a  single  page,  or 
understood  a  single  proposition  of  the  writings  of  those  whom 


Appendix  O. 


143 


they  condemn^  and  have  absolutely  no  rational  knowledge 
either  of  the  arguments  by  which  their  faith  is  defended^  or  of 
those  by  which  it  has  been  impugned,  will  nevertheless  adjudi- 
cate with  the  utmost  confidence  upon  every  polemical  question, 
denounce,  hate,  pity,  or  pray  for  the  conversion  of  all  who  dis- 
sent from  what  they  have  been  taught,  assume,  as  a  matter 
beyond  the  faintest  possibility  of  doubt,  that  the  opinions  they 
have  received  without  inquiry  must  be  true,  and  that  the  opin- 
ions which  others  have  arrived  at  by  inquiry  must  be  false,  and 
make  it  a  main  object  of  their  lives  to  assail  what  they  call 
heresy  in  every  way  in  their  power,  except  examining  the 
grounds  on  which  it  rests.  It  is  possible  that  the  great  majority 
of  voices  that  swell  the  clamor  against  every  book  which  is 
regarded  as  heretical,  are  the  voices  of  those  w^ho  would  deem 
it  criminal  even  to  open  that  book,  or  to  enter  into  any  real, 
searching,  and  impartial  investigation  of  the  subject  to  which 
it  relates.  Innumerable  pulpits  support  this  tone  of  thought, 
and  represent,  with  a  fervid  rhetoric  ivell fitted  to  excite  the  nerves 
and  imaginations  of  toomeny  the  deplorable  condition  of  all  who 
deviate  from  a  certain  type  of  opinions  or  emotions ;  a  blind 
propagandism  or  a  secret  wretchedness  penetrates  into  countless 
households,  poisoning  the  peace  of  families,  chilling  the  mental 
confidence  of  husband  and  wife,  adding  immeasurably  to  the 
difficulties  which  every  searcher  ijito  truth  has  to  encounter,  and 
diffusing  far  and  loide  intellectual  timidity,  disingenuousness, 
and  hypocrisy, — LecTcy, 

2.  The  clergy,  with  a  few  honorable  exceptions,  have  in  all 
modern  countries  been  the  avowed  enemies  of  the  diffusion  of 
knowledge,  the  danger  of  which  to  their  own  profession  they, 
by  a  certain  instinct,  seem  always  to  have  perceived.  — Buckle. 

3.  ^'^In  the  fourth  century  there  arose  monachism,  and  in 
the  sixth  century  the  Christians  succeeded  in  cutting  olf  the  last 
ray  of  knowledge,  and  shutting  up  the  schools  of  Greece. 
Then  followed  a  long  period  of  theology,  ignorance,  and  vice.'^ 
— Buckle, 


144 


Appendix. 


4.  Contempt  for  human  sciences  was  one  of  the  first  fea- 
tures of  Christianity.  It  had  to  avenge  itself  of  the  outrages  of 
philosophy ;  it  feared  that  spirit  of  investigation  and  doubt, 
that  confidence  of  man  in  his  own  reason,  the  pest  alike  of  all 
religious  creeds.  The  light  of  the  natural  sciences  was  ever 
odious  to  it,  and  was  ever  regarded  with  a  suspicious  eye,  as 
being  a  dangerous  enemy  to  tlie  success  of  miracles  ;  and  there 
is  no  religion  that  does  not  oblige  its  sectaries  to  follow  some 
physical  absurdities.  The  triumpli  of  Christianity  was  thus  the 
final  signal  of  the  entire  decline  both  of  the  sciences  and  of  jjhiloso- 
phyJ^ — Progress  of  the  Human  Mind,^^  Condorcet, 

^^Accordingly  it  ought  not  to  astonish  us  that  Christianity , 
though  U7iable  in  the  sequel  to  prevent  their  reappearance  in 
splendor  after  the  invention  of  printing,  was  at  this  period  suffi- 
ciently powerful  to  accomplish  their  ruin.^^ — Ihid. 

the  disastrous  epoch  at  which  we  are  now  arrived,  we 
shall  see  the  human  mind  rapidly  descending  from  the  height  to 
which  it  had  raised  itself,  .  .  .  Everywhere  was  corruption, 
cruelty,  and  perfidy.  .  .  .  Theological  reveries,  superstitions, 
delusions,  are  become  the  sole  genius  of  man,  religious  intoler- 
ance his  only  morality  ;  and  Europe,  crushed  between  sacerdotal 
tyranny  and  military  despotism,  awaits  in  blood  and  in  tears  the 
moment  when  the  revival  of  light  shall  restore  it  to  liberty ,  to 
humanity,  and  to  virtue,  .  .  .  The  priests  held  human  learn- 
ing in  contempt.  .  .  .  Fanatic  armies  laid  waste  the  provinces. 
Executioners,  under  the  guidance  of  legates  and  priests,  put  to 
death  those  whom  the  soldiers  had  spared.  A  tribunal  of  monks 
was  established,  with  power  of  C07idemmng  to  the  stake  whoever 
should  be  suspected  of  7naklng  use  of  his  reason,  .  .  .  All  sects, 
all  governments,  every  species  of  authority,  inimical  as  they 
were  to  each  other  in  every  point  else,  seemed  to  be  of  accord 
in  granting  no  quarter  to  the  exercise  of  reason.  .  .  .  Mean- 
while education,  being  everywhere  subjected  [to  the  clergy],  had 
corrupted  everywhere  the  general  understanding,  by  clogging 
the  reason  of  childre^i  with  the  weight  of  the  religious  2)?^ejtidices  of 


Appendix  H. 


145 


their  country,  ...  In  the  eighth  century  an  ignorant  pope  had 
persecuted  a  deacon  for  contending  that  the  earth  was  round, 
in  opposition  to  the  opinion  of  the  rhetorical  Saint  Austin.  In 
the  fifteenth,  the  ignorance  of  another  pope,  much  more  inex- 
cusable, delivered  Galileo  into  the  hands  of  the  inquisition, 
accused  of  having  proved  the  diurnal  and  annual  motion  of  the 
earth.  The  greatest  genius  that  modern  Italy  has  given  to  the 
sciences,  overwhelmed  with  age  and  infirmities,  was  obliged  to 
purchase  his  release  from  punishment  and  from  prison,  by  ask- 
ing pardon  of  God  for  having  taught  men  better  to  understand 
his  works.  — Ibid. 


Appendix  H. 

1.  Fenelon,  a  celebrated  French  clergyman  and  writer  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  discouraged  the  acquisition  of  knowl- 
edge by  women. — See  Hallam's  ''JAi,  of  Europe. 

2.  Perhaps  it  is  to  the  spirit  of  Puritanism  that  we  owe  the 
little  influence  of  women,  and  the  consequent  inferiority  of 
their  education.  — Buckle, 

3.  ^^In  England  (1840)  a  distrust  and  contempt  for  reason 
prevails  amongst  religious  circles  to  a  wide  extent ;  many  Chris- 
tians think  it  almost  a  matter  of  duty  to  decry  the  human 
faculties  as  poor,  mean,  and  almost  worthless ;  and  thus  seek 
to  exalt  pi  ty  at  the  expense  of  intelligence.^^ — MorelVs  ^^Hist. 
of  Speculative  Phil.^^ 

4.  ^^That  women  are  more  deductive  than  men,  because  they 
think  quicker  than  men,  is  a  proposition  which  some  people 
will  not  relish,  and  yet  it  may  be  proved  in  a  variety  of  ways. 
Indeed  nothing  could  prevent  its  being  universally  admitted 
except  the  fact  that  the  remarkable  rapidity  with  which  women 
think  is  obscured  by  that  miserable,  that  contemptible,  that  pre- 
posterous system,  called  their  education,  in  which  valuable  things 


146 


Appe7idix. 


are  carefully  kept  from  tliem^  and  trifling  things  carefully 
taught  to  them,  until  their  fine  and  nimble  minds  are  too  often 
irretrievably  injured. — Buckle. 


Appendix  I. 

1.  ^^The  Eoman  [Pagan]  religion  was  essentially  domestic, 
and  it  was  a  main  object  of  the  legislator  to  surround  marriage 
with  every  circumstance  of  dignity  and  solemnity.  Mo7iogamy 
was,  from  the  earliest  times,  strictly  e^ijoined,  and  it  was  one  of 
the  great  benefits  that  have  resulted  from  the  expansion  of 
Eoman  power,  that  it  made  this  type  dominant  in  Europe,  In 
the  legends  of  early  Eome  we  have  ample  evidence  both  of  the 
high  moral  estimate  of  women,  and  of  their  prominence  in 
Eoman  life.  The  tragedies  of  Lucretia  and  of  Virginia  dis- 
play a  delicacy  of  honor,  a  sense  of  the  supreme  excellence  ^f 
unsullied  purity,  which  no  Christian  nation  could  surpass.  — 
Lecky,  "  European  Morals,''  Vol.  1,  p.  316. 

2.  "  Marriage  [under  Christian  rule]  was  viewed  in  its  coarsest 
and  most  degraded  form.  The  notion  of  its  impurity  took 
many  forms,  and  exercised  for  some  ce7ituries  an  extremely 
wide  influence  over  the  Church. — Ibid.,  p.  343. 


Appendix  J. 

•  1.  ^^We  are  continually  told  that  civilization  and  Christi- 
anity have  restored  to  the  woman  her  just  rights.  Meanwhile 
the  wife  is  the  actual  bond-servant  of  her  husband  ;  no  less  so, 
as  far  as  legal  obligation  goes,  than  slaves  commonly  so  called. 
She  vows  a  lifelong  obedience  to  him  at  the  altar,  and  is  held  to 
it  all  through  her  life  by  law.  Casuists  may  say  that  the  obli- 
gation of  obedience  stops  short  of  participation  in  crime,  but  it 


Appendix  J. 


147 


certainly  extends  to  everything  else.  She  can  do  no  act  what- 
ever but  by  his  permission^  at  least  tacit.  She  can  acquire  no 
property  but  for  Mm  ;  the  instant  it  becomes  hers^  even  if  by 
inheritance,  it  becomes  iptso  facto  his.  In  this  respect  the  wif e^s 
position  under  the  common  law  of  England  is  worse  than  that 
of  slaves  in  the  laws  of  many  countries ;  by  the  Roman  law,  for 
example,  a  slave  might  have  peculmm,  which,  to  a  certain 
extent,  the  law  guaranteed  him  for  his  exclusive  use.^^ — Mill. 

2.  Speaking  of  self-worship  which  leads  to  brutality  toward 
others.  Mill  says  :  Christianity  will  never  practically  teach 
it^^  (the  equality  of  human  beings)  "^"^  while  it  sanctions  insti- 
tutions grounded  on  an  arbitrary  preference  for  one  human 
being  over  another. 

^'^The  morality  of  the  first  ages  rested  on  the  obligation  to 
submit  to  power  ;  that  of  the  ages  next  following,  on  the  right 
of  the  weak  to  the  forbearance  and  protection  of  the  strong. 
How  much  longer  is  One  form  of  society  and  life  to  content 
itself  wdth  the  morality  made  for  another  ?  We  have  had  the 
morality  of  submission,  and  the  morality  of  chivalry  and  gene- 
rosity ;  the  time  is  noiv  come  for  the  morality  of  justice, 
—Ibid. 

^^Institutions,  books,  education,  society  all  go  on  training 
human  beings  for  the  old,  long  after  the  new  has  come  ;  much 
more  when  it  is  only  coming.  — Ibid. 

"  There  have  been  abundance  of  people,  in  all  ages  of  Chris- 
tianity, who  tried  ...  to  convert  us  into  a  sort  of  Christian 
Mussulmans,  with  the  Bible  for  a  Koran,  prohibiting  all  im- 
provement ;  and  great  has  been  their  power,  and  many  have 
had  to  sacrifice  their  lives  in  resisting  them.  But  they  have 
been  resisted,  and  the  resistance  has  made  us  lohat  tve  are,,  and 
will  yet  make  us  ivhat  we  are  to  heJ^ — Ihid. 


148 


Appendix. 


Appendix  K. 

^^In  this  tendency  [to  depreciate  extremely  the  character 
and  position  of  women]  we  may  detect  in  part  the  influence  of 
the  earlier  Jewish  writings,  in  which  it  is  probable  that  most 
impartial  observers  will  detect  evident  traces  of  the  common 
oriental  depreciation  of  women.  The  custom  of  money-pur- 
chase to  the  father  of  the  bride  was  admitted.  Polygamy  was 
authorized,  and  practised  by  the  wisest  men  on  an  enormous 
scale.  A  woman  was  regarded  as  the  origin  of  human  ills.  A 
period  of  purification  was  appointed  after  the  birth  of  every 
child ;  but,  by  a  very  significant  pi'^ovision,  it  teas  twice  as  long 
in  the  ^^^_2f_^_ffjf^<^^^  of  a  nmlejcl^^ 
The  hadness  of  men,  a  Jewish  WTiter  emphatically  declared,  is 
better  than  the  goodness  of  loonmi  (Ecclesiasticus  xlii.  14). 
The  types  of  female  excellence  exhibited  in  the  early  period  of 
Jewish  history  are  in  general  of  a  low  order,  and  certainly  far 
inferior  to  those  of  Koman  history  or  Greek  poetry ;  and  the 
loarmest  eulogy  of  a  woman  in  the  Old  Testament  is  probably 
that  which  was  bestowed  ujjon  her  ivho,  with  circumstances  of  the 
most  exaggerated  treachery,  had  murdered  the  sleeping  fugitive 
who  had  tahen  refuge  under  her  roofj^ — Lecky,  European 
Morals/^  vol.  1,  p.  357. 


Appendix  L. 


149 


Appendix  L. 

1.  Mr.  F.  Newman^,  who  looks  on  toleration  as  the  result 
of  intellectual  progress^  says  :  "  Nevertheless^  not  only  does  the 
Old  Testament  justify  bloody  persecution^  but  the  New  teaclies 
that  God  will  visit  men  with  fiery  vengeance  /or  holding  an 
erro7ieous  creed — Buckle, 

2.  The  first  great  consequence  of  the  decline  of  priestly 
influence  was  the  rise  of  toleration.  ...  I  suspect  that 
the  impolicy  of  persecution  was  perceived  before  its  wicked- 
ness.^^— Ibid. 

3.  AYhile  a  multitude  of  scientific  discoveries^  critical  and 
historical  researches^  and  educational  reforms  have  brought 
thinking  men  face  to  face  with  religious  problems  of  extreme 
importance,  ivomen  have  heen  almost  absolutely  excluded  from 
their  injluence,^^ — Lechy. 

4.  The  domestic  unhappiness  arising  from  difEerence  of 
belief  was  probably  almost  or  altogether  unknown  in  the  world 
before  the  introduction  of  Christianity.  .  .  .  The  deep, 
and  widening  chasm  betiveen  the  religious  opinions  of  most 
highly  educated  men,  and  of  the  imme^ise  majority  of  women 
is  painfully  apparent.  Whenever  any  strong  religious  fervor 
fell  upon  a  husband  or  a  wife,  its  first  eflEect  was  to  make  a 
happy  union  impossible.^' — Ibid. 

5.  The  combined  influence  of  the  Jewish  writings  [Old 
Testament]  and  of  that  ascetic  feeling  which  treated  Avoman  as 
the  chief  source  of  temptation  to  man,  caused  her  degrada- 
tion. ...  In  the  writings  of  the  Fathers,  woman  was  re- 
presented as  the  door  of  hell,  as  the  mother  of  all  human  ills. 
She  should  be  ashamed  at  the  very  thought  that  she  is  a 
woman.  She  should  live  in  continual  penance,  on  account  of 
the  curse  she  has  brought  into  the  world.  She  should  be 
ashamed  of  her  dress,  and  especially  ashamed  of  her  beauty.'' 
—Ibid. 


150 


Appendix. 


Appendix  M. 

1.  The  writers  of  the  Middle  Ages  are  full  of  accounts  of 
nunneries  that  were  like  brothels.  *  .  .  .  The  inveterate 
prevalence  of  incest  among  the  clergy  rendered  it  necessary  again 
and  again  to  issue  the  most  stringent  enactments  that  priests 
should  not  be  permitted  to  live  with  their  mothers  or  sis- 
ters, .  .  .  An  Italian  bishop  of  the  tenth  century  epigram- 
matically  described  the  morals  of  his  time,  when  he  declared, 
that  if  he  were  to  enforce  the  canons  against  unchaste  people 
administering  ecclesiastical  rites,  no  one  would  be  left  in  the 
Church  except  the  boys/^ — Lechy. 

2.  In  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  majority  of 
the  clergy  were  nearly  illiterate,  and  many  of  them  addicted  to 
drunkenness  and  low  vices. — Hallam,  "  Const.  Hist,  of  Eng.  '^ 

3.  ^^The  clergy  have  ruined  Italy. — Brougham^  "Vo\, 
Phil.^^ 

4.  It  was  a  significant  prudence  of  many  of  the  lay  Catho- 
lics, who  were  accustomed  to  insist  that  their  priests  should 
take  a  concubine  for  the  protection  of  the  families  of  the 
parishioners.  ...  It  can  hardly  be  questioned  that  the 
extreme  frequency  of  illicit  connections  among  the  clergy 
tended  during  many  centuries  most  actively  to  lower  the  moral 
tone  of  the  laity.  .  .  .  An  impure  chastity  was  fostered, 
which  continually  looked  upon  marriage  in  its  coarsest  light. 

.  .  Another  injurious  consequence,  resulting,  in  a  great 
measure,  from  asceticism,  was  a  tendency  to  depreciate  ex- 
tremely the  character  and  the  position  of  woman.  — Lecky. 


Appendix  N. 


151 


Appekdix  N. 

1.  The  great  and  main  duty  which  a  wife^  as  a  wife^  ought 
to  learn^  and  so  learn  as  to  practise  it,  is  to  be  subject  to  her 
own  husband,  .  .  .  There  is  not  any  husband  to  whom 
this  honor  of  submission  is  not  due  ;  no  personal  infirmity,  fro- 
wardness  of  nature  ;  no,  not  even  on  the  point  of  religion,  doth 
deprive  him  of  it/^ — Fergusson  on    the  Epistles/^ 

2.  The  sum  of  a  wife^s  duty  unto  her  husband  is  subjec- 
tion. — Abernetliy. 

3.  ^^We  shall  be  told,  perhaps,  that  religion  imposes  the 
duty  of  obedience  [upon  wives]  ;  as  every  established  fact 
which  is  too  bad  to  admit  of  any  other  defense,  is  always  presented 
to  us  as  an  injunction  of  religion.  The  Church,  it  is  true, 
eiijoins  it  in  her  formularies,'^ — Mill, 

^^The  principle  of  the  modern  movement  in  morals  and 
in  politics,  is  that  conduct,  and  conduct  alone,  entitles  to 
respect  :  that  not  what  men  are,  but  what  they  do  constitutes 
their  claim  to  deference  ;  that,  above  all,  merit  and  not  birth 
is  the  only  rightful  claim  to  power  and  authority, — Ibid, 

Taking  the  care  of  people^s  lives  out  of  their  own  hands, 
and  relieving  them  from  the  consequences  Of  their  own  acts, 
saps  the  very  foundation  of  the  self-respect  and  self-control 
which  are  the  essential  conditions  both  of  individual  prosperity 
and  of  social  virtue/^ — Ibid, 

Inferior  classes  of  men  always,  at  heart,  feel  disrespect 
toward  those  who  are  subject  to  their  power. — Ibid, 

4.  Among  those  causes  of  human  improvement  that  are  of 
most  importance  to  the  general  welfare,  must  be  included  the 
total  annihilation  of  the  prejudices  which  have  established 
between  the  sexes  an  inequality  of  right,  fatal  even  to  the  party 
which  it  favors.  In  vain  might  we  seek  for  motives  to  justify 
the  principle,  in  difference  of  physical  organization,  of  intellect, 
or  of  moral  sensibility.    It  had  at  first  no  other  origin  but 


152 


Appendix. 


abuse  of  strength,  and  all  tlie  attempts  which  have  since  been 
made  to  support  it  are  idle  sophisms/^ — Progress  of  the 
Human  Mind/''  Condor cet, 

5.  Notwithstanding  the  work  of  such  men  as  the  Encyclo- 
pedists of  France  and  other  liberal  thinkers  for  the  proper 
recognition  of  women,  the  Church  had  held  her  grip  so  tight 
that  upon  the  passage  of  the  bill,  as  late  as  1848,  giving  to 
married  women  the  right  to  own  their  own  property,  the  most 
doleful  prophesies  went  up  as  to  the  just  retribution  that  would 
fall  upon  women  for  their  wicked  insubordination,  and  upon  the 
men  who  had  defied  divine  commands  so  far  as  to  pass  such  a 
law.  A  recent  writer  tells  us  that  Wm.  A.  Stokes,  in  talking 
to  a  lady  whom  he  blamed  foi;  its  passage,  said  :  ^'  We  hold  you 
responsible  for  that  law,  and  I  tell  you  now  you  will  live  to  rue 
the  day  when  you  opened  such  a  Pandora^s  box  in  your  native 
State,  and  cast  such  an  apple  of  discord  into  every  family  of  the 
State/^ 

And  the  sermons  that  were  preached  against  it — the  pro- 
phecies of  deacon  and  preacher — were  so  numerous,  so  denun- 
ciatory, and  so  violent  that  they  form  a  queer  and  interesting 
chapter  in  the  history  of  the  attitude  of  the  Church  toward 
women,  and  illustrate,  in  our  own  time,  how  persistent  it  has 
been  in  its  efforts  to  prevent  woman  from  sharing  in  the  bene- 
fits of  the  higher  civilization  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

But  fortunately  for  women.  Infidels  are  more  numerous  than 
they  ever  were  before,  and  the  power  of  the  Church  is  dying  of 
dry  rot,  or  as  Col.  Ingersoll  wittily  says,  of  the  combined  influ- 
ence of  softening  of  the  brain  and  ossification  of  the  heart. 


Appendix  0. 


153 


^  Appendix  0. 

^^St.  Gregory  the  Great  describes  the  virtue  of  a  priest, 
who  through  motives  of  piety  had  discarded  his  wife,  .  . 
Their  wives,  in  immense  numbers,  were  driven  forth  with 
hatred  and  with  scorn.  .  .  Pope  Urban  11.  gave  license 
to  the  nobles  to  reduce  to  slavery  the  wives  of  priests  who 
refused  to  abandon  them. " — Lechy. 


Appendix  P. 

1.  Hallam  denies  that  respect  for  women  is  due  to  Chris- 
tianity. " — BucTcle, 

2.  In  England,  wives  are  still  occasionally  led  to  the  mar- 
ket by  a  halter  around  the  neck  to  be  sold  by  the  husband  to 
the  highest  bidder." — Ibid. 

The  sale  of  a  wife  with  a  halter  around  her  neck  is  still  a 
legal  transaction  in  England.  The  sale  must  be  made  in  the 
cattle  market,  as  if  she  were  a  mare,  all  women  being  con- 
sidered as  mares  by  old  English  law,  and  indeed  called  '  mares ' 
in  certain  counties  where  genuine  old  English  law  is  still 
preserved. " — Borrow, 

3.  Contempt  for  woman,  the  result  of  clerical  teaching,  is 
shown  in  myriad  forms." — Gage, 

4.  ^'  The  legal  subordination  of  one  sex  to  another  is  wrong 
in  itself,  and  is  now  one  of  the  chief  hindr apices  to  human 
improvement,'^ — John  Stuart  Mill, 

5.  '^1  have  no  relish  for  a  community  of  goods  resting  on 
the  doctrine,  that  what  is  mine  is  yours,  but  what  is  yours  is 
not  mine  ;  and  I  should  prefer  to  decline  entering  into  such  a 
compact  with  any  one,  though  I  were  myself  the  person  to 
profit  by  it." — Ibid. 


154 


Appendix. 


It  will  take  a  long  time  for  that  sort  of  morality  to  filter 
into  the  skull  of  the  Church,  and  when  it  does  the  skull  will 
burst. 

6.  Certain  beliefs  have  been  inculcated,  certain  crimes 
invented,  in  order  to  intimidate  the  masses.  Hence  the 
Church  made  free  thought  the  worst  of  sins,  and  the  spirit  of 
inquiry  the  worst  of  blasphemies.  ...  As  late  as  the 
time  of  Bunyan  the  chief  doctrine  inculcated  from  the  pulpit 
was  obedience  to  the  temporal  power.  .  .  .  All  these 
influences  fell  with  crushing  weight  on  womsin,'^— Matilda 
Joslyn  Gage  in    Hist.  Woman  Suffrage." 

7.  Taught  that  education  for  her  was  indelicate  and  irre- 
ligious, she  has  been  kept  in  such  gross  ignorance  as  to  fall  a 
prey  to  superstition,  and  to  glory  in  her  own  degradation.  .  . 
Such  was  the  prejudice  against  a  liberal  education  for  woman, 
that  the  first  public  examination  of  a  girl  in  geometry  (1829) 
created  as  bitter  a  storm  of  ridicule  as  has  since  assailed 
women  who  have  entered  the  law,  the  pulpit,  or  the  medical 
profession. " — Ibid. 


Appendix  Q. 


155 


Appendix  Q. 

1.  ^^The  five  writers  to  whose  genius  we  owe  the  first 
attempt  at  comprehensive  views  of  history  were  Bolingbroke, 
Montesquieu,  Voltaire,  Hume,  and  Gibbon.  Of  these  the 
second  was  but  a  cold  believer  in  Christianity,  if,  indeed,  he 
believed  in  it  at  all :  and  the  other  four  were  avowed  and 
notorious  infidels." — Buckle, 

2.  Here,  then,  we  have  the  starting-point  of  progress — 
scepfticism,  .  .  .  All,  therefore,  that  men  want  is  no 
hindrance  from  their  political  and  religious  rulers.  .  .  . 
Until  common  minds  doubt  respecting  religion  they  can 
never  receive  any  new  scientific  conclusion  at  variance  with  it 
— as  Joshua  and  Copernicus." — Ibid. 

3.  ^^The  immortal  work  of  Gibbon,  of  which  the  sagacity 
is,  if  possible,  equal  to  the  learning,  did  find  readers,  but  the 
illustrious  author  was  so  cruelly  reviled  by  men  who  called 
themselves  Christians,  that  it  seemed  doubtful  if,  after  such 
an  example,  subsequent  writers  would  hazard  their  comfort 
and  happiness  by  attempting  to  write  philosophic  history. 
Middleton  wrote  in  1750.  ...  As  long  as  the  theological 
spirit  was  alive  nothing  could  be  effected." — Ibid. 

4.  The  questions  which  presented  themselves  to  the  acuter 
minds  of  a  hundred  years  ago  were  present  to  the  acuter  minds 
who  lived  hundreds  of  years  before  that.  .  .  .  But  the  Church 
had  known  how  to  deal  with  intellectual  insurgents,  from 
Abelard  in  the  twelfth  century  down  to  Bruno  and  Vanini  in 
the  seventeenth.  They  were  isolated,  and  for  the  most  part 
submissive  ;  and  if  they  were  not,  the  arm  of  the  Church  was 
very  long  and  her  grasp  mortal.  .  .  .  They  [the  thinkers] 
could  have  taught  Europe  earlier  than  the  Church  allowed  it 
to  learn,  that  the  sun  does  not  go  round  the  earth,  and  that  it 
is  the  earth  which  goes  round  the  sun.  .  .  .  After  the 
middle  of  the  last  century  the  insurrection  against  the  preten- 


156 


Aj^pendix. 


sions  of  the  Church  and  against  the  doctrines  of  Christianity 
was  marked  in  one  of  its  most  important  phases  by  a  new,  and 
most  significant,  feature.    ...    It  was  an  advance  both  in 
knowledge  and  in  moral  motiye.    .    .    .    The  philosophical 
movement  was  represented  by    Diderot"  [leading  the  Encyclo- 
paedist circle.]   .    .    .    Broadly  stated  the  great  central  moral 
of  it  was  this  :  that  human  nature  is  good,  that  the  world  is 
capable  of  being  made  a  desirable  abiding-place,  and  that  the 
evil  of  the  world  is  the  f  ruit  of  bad  education  and  bad  ifistitu- 
tions.     This  cheerful  doctrine  now  strikes  on  the  ear  as  a 
commonplace  and  a  truism.    A  hundred  years  ago  in  France 
it  was  a  wonderful  gospel,  and  the  beginning  of  a  neio  dispen- 
sation.   .    .    .    Into  loliat  fresh  and  unwelcome  sunlight  it 
brought  the  articles  of  the  old  theology.    .    .    Every  social 
imjjrovement  since  has  been  the  outcome  of  that  new  doctrine 
in  one  form  or  another,    .    .    .    The  teaching  of  the  Church 
paints  men  as  fallen  and  depraved.    The  deadly  chagrin  with 
which  churchmen  saw  the  new  fabric  rising  was  very  natural. 
.    .    .    The  new  secular  knowledge  clashed  at  a  thousand 
points,  alike  in  letter  and  spirit,  with  the  old  sacred  lore. 
.    .    .    A  hundred  years  ago  this  perception  was  vague  and 
indefinite,  but  there  was  an  unmistakable  apprehension  that 
the  Catholic  ideal  of  luomanhood  was  no  more  adequate  to  the 
facts  of  life,  than  Catholic  views  about  science,  or  popery,  or 
labor,  or  political  order  and  authority.  — Morley, 

And  it  took  the  rising  infidels  to  discover  the  fact.  See 
Morley,    Diderot,"  p.  76. 

'^The  greatest  fact  in  the  intellectual  history  of  the  eight- 
eenth century  is  the  decisive  revolution  that  overtook  the  sus- 
taining conviction  of  the  Church.  The  central  conception, 
that  the  universe  was  called  into  existence  only  to  further  its 
Creator's  purpose  toward  man,  became  incredible  [by  the  light 
of  the  new  thought  |.  What  seems  to  careless  observers  a 
mere  metaphysical  dispute  was  in  truth,  and  still  is,  the  decisive 


Appendix  Q. 


157 


quarter  of  the  great  hattle  between  theology  and  a  'philosophy 
reconcilable  with  science.'^ — Morley, 

"  The  man  who  ventured  to  use  his  mind  [Diderot]  was 
thrown  into  the  dungeon  at  Vincennes." — Ibid, 

5.  ^'  Those  thinkers  [Voltaire,  Eousseau^  and  Diderot] 
taught  men  to  reason  ;  reasoning  well  leads  to  acting  well ; 
justness  in  the  mind  becomes  justice  in  the  heart.  Those 
toilers  for  progress  labored  usefully.  .  .  .  The  French 
Revolution  was  their  soul.  It  was  their  radiant  manifestation. 
It  came  from  them ;  we  find  them  everywhere  in  that  blest 
and  superb  catastrophe,  which  formed  the  conclusion  of  the 
past  and  the  opening  of  the  future.  .  .  .  The  new  society, 
the  desire  for  equality  and  concession,  and  that  beginning  of 
fraternity  which  called  itself  tolerance,  reciprocal  good-will, 
the  just  accord  of  men  and  rights,  reason  recognized  as  the 
supreme  law,  the  annihilation  of  prejudices  and  fixed  opinions, 
the  serenity  of  souls,  the  spirit  of  indulgence  and  of  pardon^ 
harmony,  peace — behold  what  has  come  from  them 
Victor  Hugo,  ^''Oration  on  Voltaire." 


158 


Appendix, 


Appendix  K. 

"  He  [Mohammed]  promulgated  a  mass  of  fables,  which  he 
pretended  to  have  received  from  heaven.  .  .  .  After 
enjoying  for  tioenly  years  a  power  without  bounds,  and  of 
lohich  there  exists  no  other  example,  he  announced  pubHcly, 
that,  if  he  had  committed  any  act  of  injustice,  he  was  ready 
to  make  reparation.  All  were  silent.  .  .  .  He  died ;  and 
the  enthusiasm  which  he  communicated  to  his  people  will  be 
seen  to  change  the  face  of  three-quarters  of  the  globe.  .  .  . 
I  shall  add  that  the  religion  of  Mohammed  is  the  most  simple 
in  its  dogmas,  the  least  absurd  in  its  practices,  above  all 
others  tolerant  in  its  principles." — Coyidorcet. 


Appendix  S. 

The  claim  is  so  often  and  so  boldly  made  that  Infidelity 
produces  crime,  and  that  Christianity,  or  belief,  or  faith,  makes 
people  good,  that  the  following  statistics  usually  produce  a 
rather  chilly  sensation  in  the  believer  when  presented  in  the 
midst  of  an  argument  based  upon  the  above  mentioned  claim. 
I  have  used  it  with  effect.  The  person  upon  whom  it  is  used 
will  never  offer  that  argument  to  you  again.  The  following 
statistics  were  taken  from  the  British  Parliamentary  reports, 
made  on  the  instance  of  Sir  John  Trelawney,  in  1873  : 

ENGLAND  AND  WALES. 


Criminals  in  England  and  Wales  in  1873. 


140,140 


Appendix  S,  159 


SECTAEIAN  AND  INFIDEL  POPULATION  OF  THE  SAME. 

Church  of  England   6,933,935 

Dissenters   7,235,158 

Catholics   1,500,000 

Jews   57,000 

Infidels   7,000,000 

RELIGIOUS  PERSUASIONS  OF  CRIMINALS  OF  THE  SAME. 

Church  of  England     96,097 

Catholics   35,581 

Dissenters   10,648 

Jews   256 

Infidels   296 

CRIMINALS  TO  100,000  POPULATION. 

Catholics   2,500 

Church  of  England   1,400 

Dissenters   150 

Infidels   5 


These  statistics  are  taken  from  the  report  of  the  British 
Parliament,  which,  for  learning  and  intelligence,  as  a  deliber- 
ative body,  has  not  its  superior,  if  it  has  its  equal,  in  the 
world,  and  it  is  surely  a  sufficiently  Christian  body  to  be  accepted 
as  authority  in  this  matter,  since  a  large  number  of  its  members 
are  clergymen.  These  statistics  hardly  sustain  the  allegation 
that  "Infidelity  is  coupled  with  impurity." 

We  are  willing  to  stand  upon  our  record.  But,  lest  it  be 
claimed  that  this  is  a  British  peculiarity,  allow  me  to  defer  to 
the  patriotic  sentiment  of  my  readers  by  one  other  little  set  of 
tables  which,  while  not  complete,  is  equally  as  suggestive. 

"  In  sixty- six  different  prisons,  jails,  reformatories,  refuges, 
penitentiaries,  and  lock-ups  there  were,  for  the  years  given  in 
reports,  41,335  men  and  boys,  women  and  girls,  of  the  following 
religious  sects : 


160 


Appendix. 


Catholics  

Church  of  England  

Eighteen  other  Protestant  denominations 

Universalists  

Jews,  Chinese,  and  Mormons  

Infidels  (two  so-called,  one  avowed)  


16,431 
9,975 
14,811 


5 

110 

3 


*^  These  included  the  prisons  of  Iowa,  Michigan,  Tennessee, 
New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Connecticut,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and 
Canada." 

Present  these  two  tables  to  those  who  assure  you  that  crime 
follows  in  the  wake  of  Infidelity,  and  you  will  have  time  to 
take  a  comfortable  nap  before  your  Christian  friend  returns  to 
the  attack  or  braces  up  after  the  shock  sustained  by  his  senti- 
ments and  inflicted  by  these  two  small  but  truly  suggestive 
tables. 

One  cold  fact  like  this  will  inoculate  one  of  the  faithful  wdth 
more  modesty  than  an  hour  of  usual  argument  based  upon  the 
assumptions  of  the  clergy  and  the  ignorance  of  his  hearers. 

Infidels  are  not  perfect.  Many  of  them  need  reconstruction 
sadly,  but  the  above  data  seem  to  indicate  that  they  compare 
rather  favorably  with  their  fellow-men  in  the  matter  of  good 
citizenship. 


"Moreover,  as  Goethe  has  already  shown,  the  celebrated 
Mosaic  moral  precepts,  the  so-called  Ten  Commandments,  were 
not  upon  the  tables  upon  which  Moses  wrote  the  laws  of  the 
covenant  which  God  made  with  his  people. 

"Even  the  extraordinary  diversity  of  the  many  religions 
diffused  over  the  surface  of  the  earth  suffices  to  show  that  they 


Appendix  T. 


Appendix  T. 


161 


can  stand  in  no  necessary  connection  with  morals,  as  it  is  well 
known  that  wherever  tolerably  well-ordered  political  and  social 
conditions  exist,  the  moral  precepts  in  their  essential  principles 
are  the  same,  whilst  when  such  conditions  are  wanting,  a  wild 
and  irregular  confusion,  or  even  an  entire  deficiency  of  moral 
notions  is  met  with.*  History  also  shows  incontrovertibly  that 
religion  and  morality  have  by  no  means  gone  hand  in  hand  in 
strength  and  development,  but  that  even  contrariwise  the  most 
religious  times  and  countries  have  produced  the  greatest 
number  of  crimes  and  sins  against  the  laws  of  morality,  and 
indeed,  as  daily  experience  teaches,  still  produce  them.  The 
history  of  nearly  all  religions  is  filled  with  such  horrible  abom- 
inations, massacres,  and  boundless  wickednesses  of  every  kind 
that  at  the  mere  recollection  of  them  the  heart  of  a  philan- 
thropist seems  to  stand  still,  and  we  turn  with  disgust  and 
horror  from  a  mental  aberration  which  could  produce  such 
deeds.  If  it  is  urged  in  vindication  of  religion  that  it  has 
advanced  and  elevated  human  civilization,  even  this  merit 
appears  very  doubtful  in  presence  of  the  facts  of  history,  and 
at  least  as  very  rarely  or  isolatedly  the  case.  In  general,  how- 
ever, it  cannot  be  denied  that  most  systems  of  religion  have 
proved  rather  inimical  than  friendly  to  civilization.  For 
religion,  as  already  stated,  tolerates  no  doubt,  no  discussion, 
no  contradiction,  no  investigations,  those  eternal  pioneers  of 
the  future  of  science  and  intellect !  Even  the  simple  circum- 
stance that  our  present  state  of  culture  has  already  long  since 

***In  China,  where  people  are,  as  is  well-known,  very  indifferent  or 
tolerant  in  religious  matters,  this  fine  proverb  is  current;  'Religions 
are  various,  but  reason  is  one,  and  we  are  all  brothers.' " 


162 


Appendix. 


left  far  behind  it  all  and  even  the  highest  intellectual  ideals 
established  and  elaborated  by  former  religions  may  show  how- 
little  intellectual  progress  is  influenced  by  religion.  Mankind 
is  perpetually  being  thrown  to  and  fro  between  science,  and 
religion,  but  it  advances  more  intellectually,  morally  and 
physically  in  proportion  as  it  turns  away  from  religion  and  to 
science. 

"It  is  therefore  clear  that  for  our  present  age  and  for  the 
future  a  foundation  must  be  sought  and  found  for  culture  and 
morality,  different  from  that  which  can  be  furnished  to  us  by 
religion.  It  is  not  the  fear  of  God  that  acts  amelioratingly  or 
ennoblingly  upon  manners,  of  which  the  middle  ages  furnish 
us  with  a  striking  proof ;  but  the  ennobling  of  the  conception 
of  the  world  in  general  which  goes  hand  in  hand  with  the 
advance  of  oivilization.  Let  us  then  give  up  making  a  show  of 
the  profession  of  hypocritical  words  of  faith,  the  only  purpose 
of  which  seems  to  be  that  they  may  be  continually  shown  to  be 
lies  by  the  actions  and  deeds  of  their  professors  !  The  man  of 
the  future  will  feel  far  more  happy  and  contented  when  he  has 
not  to  contend  at  every  step  of  his  intellectual  forward  devel- 
opment with  those  tormenting  contradictions  between  knowl- 
edge and  faith  which  plague  his  youth,  and  occupy  his  mature 
age  unnecessarily  with  the  slow  renunciation  of  the  notions 
which  he  imbibed  in  his  youth.  What  we  sacrifice  to  God,  we 
take  away  from  mankind,  and  absorb  a  great  part  of  his  best 
intellectual  powers  in  the  pursuit  of  an  unattainable  goal.  At 
any  rate,  the  least  that  we  can  expect  in  this  respect  from  the 
state  and  society  of  the  future  is  a  complete  separation  between 
ecclesiastical  and  worldly  affairs,  or  an  absolute  emancipation 
of  the  state  and  the  school  from  every  ecclesiastical  influence. 


Appendix  T, 


163 


Education  must  be  founded  upon  knowledge^  not  w^on  faith  ; 
and  religion  itself  should  be  taught  in  the  public  schools  only 
as  religious  history  and  as  an  objective  or  scientific  exposition 
of  the  different  religious  systems  prevailing  among  mankind. 
Any  one  who,  after  such  an  education,  still  experiences  the 
need  of  a  definite  law  or  rule  of  faith  may  then  attach  himself 
to  any  religious  sect  that  may  seem  good  to  him,  bat  cannot 
claim  that  the  community  should  bear  the  cost  of  this  special 
fancy  ! 

As  regards  Christianity,  or  the  JPaulinism  which  is  falsely 
called  Christianity,  it  stands,  by  its  dogmatic  portion  or  con 
tents,  in  such  striking  and  irreconcilable,  nay  absolutely  absurd 
contradiction  with  all  the  acquisitions  and  principles  of  modern 
science  that  itf^  future  tragical  fate  can  only  be  a  question  of 
time.  But  even  its  ethical  contents  or  its  moral  principles  are 
in  no  way  essentially  distinguished  above  those  of  other 
peoples,  and  were  equally  well  and  in  part  better  known  to 
mankind  even  before  its  appearance.  Not  only  in  this  respect, 
but  also  in  its  supposed  character  as  the  world-religion^  it  is 
excelled  by  the  much  older  and  probably  most  widely  diffused 
religious  system  in  the  world,  the  (jelebrated  Buddhism,  which 
recognizes  neither  the  idea  of  a  personal  God,  nor  that  of  a 
personal  duration,  and  nevertheless  teaches  an  extremely  pure, 
amiable,  and  even  ascetic  morality.  The  doctrine  of  Zoroaster 
or  Zarathrustra  also,  1800  years  B.  C,  taught  the  principles  of 
humanity  and  toleration  for  those  of  different  modes  of  think- 
ing in  a  manner  and  purity  which  were  unknown  to  the  Semitic 
religions  and  especially  to  Christianity.  Christianity  originated 
and  spread,  as  is  well-known,  at  a  time  of  general  decline  of 
manners,  and  of  very  great  moral  and  national  corruption ;  and 


164 


Ap^jencUx. 


its  extraordinary  success  must  be  partly  explained  by  the 
prevalence  of  a  sort  of  intellectual  and  moral  disease  which 
had  overpowered  the  spirits  of  men  after  the  fall  of  the  ancient 
civilization  and  under  the  demoralizing  influence  of  the  gradual 
collapse  of  the  great  Roman  empire.  But  even  at  that  time 
those  who  stood  intellectually  high  and  looked  deeply  into 
things  recognized  the  whole  danger  of  this  new  turn  of  mind, 
and  it  is  very  remarkable  that  the  best  and  most  benevolent 
of  the  Roman  emperors,  such  as  Marcus  Aurelius,  Julian,  etc., 
were  the  most  zealous  persecutors  of  Christianity,  whilst  it 
was  tolerated  by  the  bad  ones,  such  as  Commodus,  Helio- 
gabalus,  etc.  When  it  had  gradually  attained  the  superiority, 
one  of  its  first  sins  against  intellectual  progress  consisted  in 
the  destruction  by  Christian  fanaticism  of  tLo  celebrated 
Library  of  Alexandria,  which  contained  all  the  intellectual 
treasures  of  antiquity — an  incalculable  loss  to  science,  which 
can  never  be  replaced.  It  is  usually  asserted  in  praise  of 
Christianity  that  in  the  middle  ages  the  Christian  monasteries 
were  the  preservers  of  science  and  literature,  but  even  this  is 
correct  only  in  a  very  limited  sense,  since  boundless  ignorance 
and  rudeness  generally  prevailed  in  the  monasteries,  and 
innumerable  ecclesiastics  could  not  even  read.  Valuable 
literary  treasures  on  parchment  contained  in  the  libraries  of 
the  monasteries  were  destroyed,  the  monks  when  they  wanted 
money  selling  the  books  as  parchment,  cr  tearing  out  the 
leaves  and  writing  psalms  upon  them.  Frequently  they 
entirely  effaced  the  ancient  classics,  to  make  room  for  their 
foolish  legends  and  homilies ;  nay,  the  reading  of  the  classics, 
such  as  Aristotle  for  example,  was  directly  forbidden  by  papal 
decrees. 


Appendix  T. 


165 


"  In  New  Spain  Christian  fanaticism  immediately  destroyed 
whatever  of  arts  and  civilization  existed  among  the  natives, 
and  that  this  was  not  inconsiderable  is  shown  by  the  numerous 
monuments  now  in  ruins  which  place  beyond  a  doubt  the 
former  existence  of  a  tolerably  high  degree  of  culture.  But  in 
the  place  of  this  not  a  trace  of  Christian  civilization  is  now  to 
be  observed  iimong  the  existing  Indians,  and  the  resident 
Catholic  clergy  keep  the  Indians  purposely  in  a  state  of  the 
greatest  ignorance  and  stupidity  (see  Richthofen,  Die  Zustande 
der  Republic  Mexico,  Berlin,  1854). 

"Thus  Christianity  has  always  acted  consistently  in  accord- 
ance with  the  principles  of  one  of  the  fathers  of  the  Church, 
TertuUian,  who  says :  ^  Desire  of  knoioledge  is  no  longer 
necessary  siiice  Jesus  Christ,  nor  is  investigation  necessary 
since  the  GospeU  If  the  civilization  of  the  European  and 
especially  of  Christian  Nations  has  notwithstanding  made  such 
enormous  progress  in  the  course  of  centuries,  an  unprejudiced 
consideration  of  history  can  only  tell  us  that  this  has  taken 
place  not  by  means  of  Christianity,  but  in  spite  of  it.  And 
this  is  a  sufficient  indication  to  what  an  extent  this  civilization 
must  still  be  capable  of  development  when  once  it  shall  be 
completely  freed  from  the  narrow  bounds  of  old  supertitious 
and  religious  embarrassments 

"We  must  therefore  endeavor  to  form  convictions  which  are 
not  to  stand  once  and  for  all,  as  philosophers  and  theologians 
usually  do,  but  such  as  may  change  and  become  improved  with 
the  advance  of  knowledge.  Whoever  does  not  recognize  this 
and  gives  himself  up  once  for  all  to  a  belief  which  he  regards 
as  final  truth,  whether  it  be  of  a  theological  or  philosophical 
kind,  is  of  course  incapable  of  accepting  a  conviction  sui)ported 


166 


Appendix, 


upon  scientific  grounds.  "Unfortunately  our  whole  education 
is  founded  upon  an  early  systematic  curbing  and  fettering  of 
the  intellect  in  the  direction  of  dogmatic  (philosophical  or 
theological)  doctrines  of  faith,  and  only  a  comparatively  small 
number  of  strong  minds  succeed  in  after  years  in  freeing  them- 
selves by  their  own  powers  from  these  fetters,  whilst  the 
majority  remain  captive  in  the  accustomed  bonds  and  form 
their  judgment  in  accordance  with  the  celebrated  saying  of 
Bishop  Berkeley  :  *  Few  men  think ;  but  all  will  have  opin- 
ions/ " — Jjilchner,  "  Man  in  the  Past,  Present,  and  Future." 


Appendix  XJ. 

"  And  here  it  may  be  remarked,  once  for  all,  that  no  man 
who  has  subscribed  to  creeds  and  formulas,  whether  in  theology 
or  philosophy,  can  be  an  unbiased  investigator  of  the  truth  or 
an  unprejudiced  judefe  of  the  opinions  of  others.  His  sworn 
preconceptions  warping  his  discernment,  adherence  to  his  sect 
or  party  engenders  intolerance  to  the  honest  convictions  of 
other  inquirers.  Beliefs  we  may  and  must  have,  but  a  belief 
to  be  changed  with  new  and  advancing  knowledge  impedes  no 
progress,  while  a  creed  subscribed  to  as  ultimate  truth,  and 
sioor7i  to  be  defended,  not  only  puts  a  bar  to  further  research, 
but  as  a  consequence  throws  the  odium  of  distruct  on  all  that 
may  seem  to  oppose  it. 

^•Even  when  such  odium  cannot  deter,  it  annoys  and 
irritates ;  hence  the  frequent  unwillingness  of  men  of  science 
to  come  prominently  forward  with  the  avowal  of  their  beliefs. 

"  It  is  time  this  delicacy  were  thrown  aside,  and  such  theo- 


Apj^endix  V. 


167 


logians  plainly  told  that  the  skepticism  and  Infidelity — if 
skepticism  and  Infidelity  there  be — lies  all  on  their  own  side. 

"  There  is  no  skepticism  so  offensive  as  that  which  doubts  the 
facts  of  honest  and  careful  observation  ;  no  Infidelity  so  gross 
as  that  which  disbelieves  the  deductions  of  competent  and 
unbiased  judgments." — David  Fage^  "  Man,"  etc.,  Edinburgh, 
1867. 


Appendix  V. 

Since  I  have  recorded  this  incident  of  my  lecture  in  Chicago, 
it  is  peculiarly  fitting  and  pleasant  to  be  able  to  give  the 
following  extract  from  the  review  of  the  first  edition  of 
this  book  printed  in  the  Chicago  Times.  No  great  daily 
paper  would  have  dared  to  print  such  a  comment  a  few  years 
ago.    To-day  it  is  stated  as  a  matter  quite  beyond  controversy : 

"  She  takes  considerable  pains  to  show  lohat  one  loould  think 
need  scarcely  he  insisted  upon  in  our  day,  that  the  'morals  of 
civilization — morals  in  general,  indeed — are  not  at  all  based  in 
or  dependent  upon  religion,  certainly  not  on  Christianity,  since 
the  so-called  *  golden  rule,'  the  highest  principle  of  morality, 
antedates  Christianity  a  thousand  years." 


ADDEESS  TO  THE  CLEEGY  AND  OTHEES. 


Up  to  the  present  time  I  have  tried  to  reply  personally 
to  each  one  who  has  favored  me  with  a  letter  of  thanks, 
criticism,  or  praise  of  the  little  book,  "  Men,  "Women, 
and  Gods,  and  Other  Lectures,"  just  published,  but  I 
find  that  if  I  continue  to  do  this  I  shall  have  but  little 
time  for  anything  else. 

The  very  unexpected  welcome  which  the  book  has 
received  prompts  me  to  take  this  plan  and  means  of 
replying  to  many  who  have  honored  me  by  writing  me 
personal  letters.  First,  permit  me  to  thank  those  who 
have  written  letters  of  praise  and  gratitude,  and  to  say 
that,  although  I  may  be  unable  to  reply  in  a  private 
letter,  I  am  not  indifferent  to  these  evidences  of  your 
interest,  and  am  greatly  helped  in  my  work  by  your  sym- 
pathy and  encouragement.  I  have  also  received  most 
courteous  letters  from  various  clergymen  who,  disagree- 
ing with  me,  desire  to  convert  me  either  by  mail  or 
personal  (private)  interviews. 

It  is  wholly  impossible  for  me  to  grant  these  requests, 
since  my  time  and  strength  are  demanded  in  other 
work,  but  I  wish  to  say  here  what  I  have  written  to  sev- 
eral of  my  clerical  correspondents,  and  desire  to  say  to 
them  all. 


Address  to  the  Clergy  and  Others, 


169 


Although  I  cannot  enter  into  private  correspondence 
Avith,  nor  grant  personal  interviews  to,  such  a  number  of 
your  body,  I  am  entirely  willing  to  respond  in  a  public 
way  to  any  replies  to  my  arguments  which  come  under 
the  following  conditions  : 

1.  On  page  fourteen  of  the  introduction  to  my  book  Col. 
Ingersoll  says  :  "  No  human  being  can  answer  her  argu- 
ments. There  is  no  answer.  All  the  priests  in  the 
world  cannot  explain  away  her  objections.  There  is  no 
explanation.  They  should  remain  dumb  unless  they 
can  show  that  the  impossible  is  the  probable,  that 
slavery  is  better  than  freedom,  that  polygamy  is  the 
friend  of  woman,  that  the  innocent  can  justly  suffer  for 
the  guilty,  and  that  to  persecute  for  opinion's  sake  is  an 
act  of  love  and  worship." 

Now,  whenever  any  one  of  these  gentlemen  who  wish 
to  convert  me  will  show  that  the  Colonel  is  wrong  in 
this  brief  paragraph  ;  whenever  they  will,  in  print  or  in 
public,  refute  the  arguments  to  which  he  refers,  and  to 
which  they  object,  I  shall  not  be  slow  to  respond. 

2.  It  must  be  argument,  not  personal  abuse,  and  it 
must  be  conducted  in  a  courteous  manner  and  tone. 

3.  It  must  proceed  upon  the  basis  that  I  am  as  honest, 
as  earnest,  and  as  virtuous  in  my  motives  and  intentions 
as  they  are  in  theirs. 

Now,  surely  these  gentlemen  cannot  object  to  these 
simple  requirements ;  and  since  some  of  them  are  men 
whose  names  are  preceded  by  a  title  and  followed  by 
several  capital  letters  (ranging  from  D.D.  to  O.S.F. — 


170 


Appendix. 


which  last  I,  in  my  ignorance,  guess  at  as  meaning  Order  of 
St.  Francis,  but  shall  like  to  be  corrected  if  I  am  wrong) 
they  must  believe  that  to  answer  the  arguments  them- 
selves is  both  simple  and  easy. 

If  they  do  not  so  believe  they  surely  have  no  right  to 
occupy  the  positions  which  they  do  occupy.  If  they  do 
so  believe  it  will  do  much  more  good  to  answer  them 
publicly,  since  they  have  been  made  publicly,  and  are 
already  in  the  hands  of  several  thousand  people,  who 
could  not  be  reached  by  any  amount  of  eloquence  poured 
out  on  my  devoted  head  in  the  privacy  of  my  own  parlor 
(or  writing-desk). 

Therefore,  gentlemen,  permit  me  to  say  to  you  all  that 
which  I  have  already  written  to  several  of  you  person- 
ally—  that  Coh  IngersolFs  paragraph,  quoted  above, 
expresses  my  own  views  and  those  of  a  great  many  other 
people,  and  will  continue  so  to  do  so  long  as  your  efforts 
to  show  that  he  is  wrong  are  only  whispered  to  me 
behind  a  fan,  or  in  the  strict  seclusion  of  a  letter  marked 
"private  and  personal." 

The  arguments  I  have  given  against  the  prevailing 
Christian  dogmas  and  usages,  which  you  uphold,  are 
neither  private  nor  personal,  nor  shall  I  allow  them  to 
take  that  phase.  Life  is  too  short  for  me  to  spend  hours 
day  after  day  in  sustaining,  in  private,  a  public  argument 
which  has  never  been  (and,  in  my  opinion,  never  will  be) 
refuted.  And  it  would  do  no  good  to  the  thousands 
whom  you  are  pleased  to  say  you  fear  will  be  led  astray 
by  my  position.    You  have  a  magnificent  opportunity  to 


Address  to  the  Clergy  and  Others. 


171 


lead  them  back  again  by  honest  public  letters,  or  lectures, 
or  sermons,  not  by  an  afternoon's  chat  with  me. 

And,  while  I  recognize  the  courtesy  of  your  pressing 
requests  (made,  without  exception,  in  the  most  gentle- 
manly terms)  to  permit  you  to  meet  me  personally  and 
refute  my  arguments,  I  feel  compelled  to  say  that,  un- 
less you  are  willing  to  show  the  courage  of  your  con- 
victions, and  the  quality  of  your  defense,  to  the  public,  I 
fear  they  would  have  no  weight  with  me,  and  I  should 
have  wasted  your  precious  time  as  well  as  my  own,  which 
I  should  feel  I  had  no  right  to  do,  nor  to  allow  you  to  do, 
without  this  frank  statement  of  the  case. 

Now,  do  not  suppose  that  I  have  the  slightest  objection 
to  meeting  the  clergy  personally  and  socially.  Upon  the 
contrary,  many  of  my  friends  are  clergymen — even 
bishops — but  candor  compels  me  to  state  that  up  to  the 
present  time  not  one  -of  them  has  (either  privately  or 
otherwise)  been  able  to  answer  either  of  the  first  two 
lectures  in  that  little  book,  and  as  to  the  third  one,  no 
one  of  them,  in  my  opinion,  will  ever  try  to  answer  it. 

Time  will  show  whether  I  am  right  in  this. 

In  the  mean  time  accept  my  thanks  for  your  interest, 
and  believe  me,  Sincerely, 

Helen  H.  Gardener. 


LETTER  TO  THE  CLEVELAND  CONGEESS  OF 
FEEETHINKERS,  OCTOBER,  1885. 


I  send  my  greetings  to  the  Congress  of  Freethinkers 
assembled  at  Cleveland,  and  regret,  more  than  I  can 
express,  that  I  am  unable  to  be  there  and  hear  all  the 
good  things  you  will  hear,  and  see  all  the  earnest  workers 
you  will  see. 

The  Freethinkers  of  America  ought  to  be  a  very  proud 
and  enthusiastic  body,  when  they  have  in  their  presi- 
dential chair  the  ablest  orator  of  modern  times,  and  the 
broadest,  bravest,  and  most  comprehensive  intellect  that 
has  ever  been  called  "  Mr.  President "  in  this  land  of 
bravery  and  presidents.  "Washington  was  a  patriot  of 
whom  we  are  all  justly  proud.  He  was  liberal  in  his 
religion  and  progressive  in  his  views  of  personal  rights. 
And  yet  he  had  his  limitations.  To  him  liberty  and 
personal  rights  were  modified  by  the  words,  free,  white, 
adult,  males."  He  got  no  farther.  He  who  fought  for 
freedom  upheld  slavery!  And  yet  we  are  all  proud 
and  glad  to  pay  honor  and  respect  to  the  memory  of 
Washington. 

Abraham  Lincoln  we  place  still  higher  on  the  roll  of 
honor ;  for,  added  to  his  still  more  liberal  religious 
views,  in  his  conceptions  of  freedom  and  justice  he  had 


Letter  to  the  Cleveland  Congress. 


173 


at  least  two  fewer  limitations  than  had  the  patriot  of 
1776.  He  struck  both  '^free"  and  "Avhite"  from  his 
mental  black  list,  and  gave  once  more  an  impulse  to 
liberty  that  thrilled  a  nation  and  gave  fresh  dignity  to 
the  human  race. 

But  what  shall  we  say  of  our  president — Ingersoll  ?  A 
man  who  in  ten  short  years  has  carried  mental  liberty 
into  every  household  in  America — who  is  without  limita- 
tions in  religion,  and  modifies  justice  by  no  prefix.  A 
man  who,  with  unequaled  oratory,  champions  Freedom — 
not  the  free,  white,  adult,  male  "  freedom  of  Washington. 
A  man  who  has  breasted  a  whirlwind  of  detraction  and 
abuse  for  Justice — not  the  male,  adult"  justice  of  Lin- 
coln, but  the  freedom  and  justice,  without  limitation,  for 
*'man,  woman,  and  child." 

With  such  a  leader,  what  should  not  be  achieved? 
With  such  a  champion,  what  cause  could  fail  ?  If  the 
people  ever  place  such  a  man  in  the  White  House,  the 
nations  of  this  earth  will  know,  for  the  first  time,  the 
real  meaning  of  a  free  government  under  secular  admin- 
istration. 

"A  government  of  the  people,  for  the  people,  by  the 
people,"  will  be  more  than  simply  a  high-sounding 
phrase,  which,  read  by  the  light  of  the  past,  was  only  a 
bitter  mockery  to  a  race  in  chains  ;  and,  read  by  the 
light  of  the  present,  is  a  choice  bit  of  grim  humor  to  half 
of  a  nation  in  petticoats.  But  so  long  as  the  taste 
of  the  voter  is  such  that  he  prefers  to  place  in  the 
executive  chair  a  type  of  man  so  eminently  fitted  for 


174 


Appe7icUx, 


private  life  that  when  you  want  to  find  him  you  have 
to  shake  the  chair  to  see  if  he  is  in  it,  just  so  long  will 
there  be  no  danger  that  the  lightning  will  strike  so  as  to 
deprive  the  Freethinkers  of  one  man  in  America  who 
could  fill  the  national  executive  chair  full,  and  strain  the 
back  and  sides  a  little  getting  in. 

Once  more  I  send  greetings  to  the  Convention,  with 
the  hope  that  you  may  have  as  grand  a  time  as  you 
ought  to  have,  and  that  Freethought  will  receive  a  new 
impulse  from  the  harmony  and  enthusiasm  of  this  meet- 
ing. Sincerely, 

Helen  H.  Gardener. 


MEN,  WOMEN,  AND  GODS, 

AND  OTHER  LECTURES. 

By  HELEN  H.  GARDENER. 

WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION 

By  col.  R.  G.  INGERSOLL. 

Published  by  The  Tkuth  Seeker  Company,  33  Clinton  Place,  New  York. 
Heavy  paper,  handsomely  bound  in  cloth,  $1.00  ;  paper  covers,  50  cents. 


PRESS  NOTICES. 

[The  Chicago  Times  is  one  of  the  most  wide-awake  and  independent  news- 
papers in  America.  Its  daily  circulation  is  43,000  copies  ;  its  Sunday  circulation 
is  but  a  few  hundred  less  than  50,000.  The  daily  edition  is  never  less  than  ten 
pages,  while  its  Sunday  edition  often  reaches  twenty.  Helen  H.  Gardener  may 
therefore  congratulate  herself  that  her  book  has  induced  so  widely  read  a 
journal  to  give  its  world  an  opinion  so  damaging  to  the  claims  of  Christianity 
as  the  following  notice  of  "Men,  Women,  and  Gods  :"1 

"  Men,  Women,  and  Gods,  and  Other  Lectures,"  by  Helen  H.  Gardener,  is  a 
duodecimo  volume  of  about  186  pages,  containing  three  lectures  with  an 
appendix,  setting  forth  some  of  the  authorities  from  which  the  lecturer  draws 
some  of  her  material. 

The  first  lecture  gives  the  title  to  the  book,  the  second  is  on  "  Vicarious 
Atonement,"  and  the  third  on  "  Historical  Facts  and  Theological  Fictions." 

All  are  keen,  vigorous,  and  acrid  attacks  on  the  Christian  church  forms  of 
theology.  They  can  scarcely  be  said  to  be  attacks  on  religion  or  religious  feel- 
ing, since  the  tiower  of  that  plant  is  charity  of  thought  and  action,  and  in  this 
Miss  Gardener  sees  the  highest  end  of  man's  emotional  side,  as  in  absolute 
freedom  of  investigation  and  opinion  she  sees  the  highest  end  of  his  intellectual 
side.  Hir  leading  purpose  Reems  to  be  to  show  that  women,  of  all  persons, 
should  Ijast  support  the  Bible  and  the  churches  which  hold  it  in  reverence. 

Tii3  tirst  lecture  is  a  surprisingly  bitter  and  scathing  denunciation  of  the 
Old  Testament  as  the  sum  of  all  cruelty  and  brutality  toward  women,  and  she 
makes  upa  startlingly  strong  case  from  the  pages  of  the  book  itself.  If  any  one 
does  not  think  the  case  can  do  made  strong  let  him  read  carefully  this  book  and 
also  the  thirty-first  chapter  of  *'  Numbers." 

The  second  lecture  arraigns  vicarious  atonement  as  an  inexcusable  injustice 
in  itself,  weakening  and  corrupting  in  its  influence,  like  indiscriminate  alms- 
giving, and  points  out  that  it  is  not  peculiar  to  Christianity,  but  is  found  m 
some  form  in  every  religious  system  known  in  history. 

Both  these  lectures  are  strong  productions,  but  are  disfigured  with  a  good 
deal  of  flippant  phrasing,  designed,  no  doubt,  to  catch  the  popular  attention  by 
tickling  the  popular  ear.  The  lecturer's  strongest  work  is  done  in  the  third 
lecture,  where  her  purpose  is  to  show  that  our  civilization  is  in  no  sense  based 
upon  Christianity,  and  that  the  Christian  religion  has  especially  not  contrib- 
uted to  the  elevation  of  woman  in  any  respect.  Here  she  drops  largely  her 
flippancy  of  style  and  settles  down  to  earnest  work. 

Civdization  she  holds  to  be  chiefly  the  creature  of  environment,  the  basis  of 
which,  in  this  world,  is  in  climate  and  soil.  In  support  of  her  view  of  the  posi- 
tion of  woman  she  quotes  largely  from  Sir  Henry  Maine,  showing  among  other 
things  that  the  position  of  woman  in  Roman  law  and  usage,  before  the  intro- 
duction of  Christianity,  was  in  advance  of  what  it  is  even  now  in  some  respects, 
and  that  the  tendency  of  the  canon  (church)  law  was  invari'ibly  to  force  her 
back  into  the  degradation  from  which  she  had  been  rescued  by  a  long  and 
painful  evolution. 

In  this  lecture,  too,  she  answers  the  questions  as  to  what  she  would  substi- 
tute for  the  sanctions  of  Christianity,  and  she  takes  considerable  pains  to 
show,  what  one  would  think  need  scarcely  be  insisted  upon  in  our  day,  that  the 
morals  of  civilization— morals  in  general,  indeed— are  not  at  all  based  in  or 
dependent  upon  religion,  certainly  not  on  Christianity,  since  the  so-called 
"golden  rule,"  the  highest  principle  of  morality,  antedates  Christianity  a 
thousand  years. 


jPress  N'otices  of  Men,  Women,  and  Gods, 


But  space  fails  to  more  than  thus  meagerly  call  attention  to  this  remark- 
able book.  One  can  only  express  a  regret  that  its  vigor  and  suggestiveness  are 
weakened  by  the  flippancy  of  manner  alluded  to.  Its  material  is  quite  worthy 
of  being  freed  from  trifling  of  this  kind,  although  it  must  be  admitted  that  there 
are  minds  whose  attentiou  cannot  be  so  well  gained  in  any  other  way. 

It  is  certainly  a  red-hot  hook.— Syracuse  Herald. 

This  is  a  cleverly  blasphemous  hook.— Buffalo  Express, 

I  am  much  pleased  with  the  book. — Matilda  Joslyn  Gage, 

Her  language  is  epigrammatic,  witty,  elegant,  and  pathetically  ivMe,— Banner 
oj  Light, 

A  breezy  and  vivacious  book.  .  .  .  Sparkling  and  thought-kindling.— Faw 
Burea  Denslow, 

Quite  superb  !  Has  the  faculty  of  getting  at  the  point  by  short  cuts.— iVbn- 
conjormist. 

I  trust  your  spirited  little  volume  will  find  a  multitude  of  readers,  and  bring 
you  an  ample  return  of  gratitude.— Jiames  Parton. 

The  author's  exposure  and  condemnation  of  Bible  fiction  and  theological 
dogma  is  thorough  and  complete." — Independent  Pulpit. 

She  writes  with  a  power  and  plainness  of  speech  that  rival  Colonel  Inger- 
soU's  masterly  attacks  on  the  idols  of  superstition.— }Fi/ts^6;(?  Press, 

"Written  in  a  style  that  is  sprightly  and  sarcastic.  .  .  .  Meets  some  of  the 
claims  of  orthodox  Christianity  quite  effectively.— B.  F,  Underwood,  Boston 
Index, 

It  is  a  brave  and  a  true  little  book,  and  I  congratulate  you  and  thank  you 
for  writing  it.  .  .  .  It  will  be  more  appreciated  in  years  that  are  to  come.— 
Hon,  Elizur  Wright, 

It  is  a  new  departure  for  a  woman  to  write  such  a  book  as  this,  so  well  cal- 
culated to  upset  establisht^.d  theories.  .  .  .  Well  calcmated  to  alarm  the 
faithful  sentinels  on  the  walls  of  Zion.— i^.  /.  Pendulum, 

Miss  Gardener  does  not  abuse  the  men  for  women's  position,  and  beg  for 
better  treatment.  She  calls  upon  the  women  to  dare  to  think  and  act  for  them- 
selves, and  to  gam  the  place  which  rightly  belongs  to  them.— T/ic  Sociologist. 

Her  position  is  that  woman,  last  of  all  created  things,  has  any  right  to  be- 
lieve in  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible  or  the  divine  origin  of  religion.  She  flings 
this  statement  to  the  breeze,  and  follows  it  up  with  an  assortment  of  rhetorical 
sockdologers  that  leave  no  room  to  dispute  its  right  to  be  correct.— ^i.  Louis 
Post-Dispatch, 

It  abounds  in  good,  solid  argument,  and  on  nearly  every  page  glitters  with 
scintillations  of  wit.  .  .  .  She  proves  herself  to  be  not  Only  an  able  attorney 
for  her  sex,  but  a  brave  one,  too  ;  for  she  docs  not  throw  away  an  eft'ective 
weapon  in  the  fight  because,  forsooth,  it  maybe  an  unpleasant  one  to  handle.— 
Hon.  A .  B,  Bradford, 

But  the  outside  of  the  platter  is  not  where  the  attraction  lies.  That  is 
between  the  covers,  on  every  page  sparkling  with  brilliancy  and  cutting  deep 
with  keen  sarcasm  and  effective  wit,  with  vigorous  attacks  on  sacred  things, 
and  unsparing  exposure  of  the  weak  points  in  theological  dogmas  and  scriptural 
inspiration.   .   .   .  It  is  a  remarkably  brilliant  book.— ^.  Y.  Day  Star, 

Tliis,  without  exception,  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  and  interesting  books 
that  I  have  read  for  some  time.  Miss  Gardener  has  done  a  noble  work,  and 
done  it  well.  .  .  .  It  is  needless  to  say  that  Miss  Gardener's  style  of  writing 
is  of  the  most  finished  order — light,  without  being  frivolous ;  humorous,  with- 
out being  offensive,  and  argumentative,  without  being  wearisome.  —  C/iarzes 
Watts. 

She  has  acquitted  herself  splendidly.  The  work  abounds  in  humor  and  wit. 
It  would  be  impossible  in  a  brief  notice  to  do  justice  to  it.  .  .  .  I  predict  for 
it  a  permanent  place  in  the  literature  of  Freethought.  The  frontispiece, 
although  fairly  good,  does  not  do  justice  to  the  original.  The  introduction  by 
Colonel  Ingersoli  is  one  of  his  literary  gems,  and  therefore  needs  no  words  of 
praise.— Pro/.  W,  S,  Bell, 

A  book  that  is  destined  to  make  its  mark.  .  .  .  Her  wit,  keen  as  Voltaire's 
is  ns  polished  as  the  sting  of  a  ])e.! ;  l)iit,  instead  of  poison,  it  distills  the  genuine 
milk  of  human  kiiidncBS  that  heals  the  wounds  it  makes.   .   .   .   Her  humor  is 


Press  Notices  of  Men^  Women,  and  Gods, 


irresistible,  her  logic  unanswerable,  and  her  proofs  conclusive.  .  .  .  Her  lan- 
guage is  always  irreproachable,  and  she  is  always  a  lady.  .  .  .  We  unhesi- 
tatingly pronounce  it  the  best  book  of  the  kind.  Let  every  woman  in  the  land 
read  it— Pittsburg  Truth, 

Of  the  contents  of  the  book  I  do  not  hesitate  to  speak  in  the  highest  praise. 
.  .  .  I  could  not  give  up  the  reading  of  it  until  I  had  finished  the  last  page. 
...  A  young  and  gifted  woman.  .  .  .  The  humor  of  the  book,  which  will 
be  found  on  almost  every  page,  is  one  of  its  great  attractions.— L^ic?/  ^V'.  Colman, 

The  design  of  the  book  is  the  emancipation  and  elevation  of  woman.  The 
end  is  certainly  a  very  laudable  one,  but  whether  the  end  would,  in  this  case, 
justify  the  means  may  well  be  doubted.  The  author  evidently  expects  to  see 
the  day  when  woman  will  be  free  and  in  full  enjoyment  of  all  the  rights,  priv- 
ileges, and  immunities  of  man,  and  recognized  as  his  equal  in  every  particular. 
...  It  really  seems  strange  that  a  lady  as  brilliant  as  Miss  Gardener 
undeniably  is  should  expend  her  energies  in  an  effort  which  promises  so  little.— 
Chicago  Morning  News. 

A  neat  little  volume  of  the  Ingersoll  style  of  literature,  with  the  striking 
title  of  "Men,  Women,  and  Gods,"  in  which  she  gives  the  Bible  fits,  and 
metaphorically  spells  God  with  a  little  g.  Helen's  portrait,  which  illustrates 
the  front  of  the  book,  is  really  the  most  interesting  feature  of  the  volume.  She 
has  a  tine,  intellectual  face,  a  full,  clear  eye,  a  pretty  mouth,  and  shapely  chin, 
and  does  not  wear  bangs.  ...  Is  certainly  worth  reading,  if  for  nothing 
else,  just  to  see  how  a  woman  can  handle  a  subject  that  Voltaire,  Tom  Paine, 
and  other  great  Infidels  have  treated  so  heroically.— >S'^.  Louis  Sunday  Sayings. 

Miss  Gardener's  book  is  a  valuable  contribution.  It  is,  moreover,  not  a  stiff 
and  didactic  performance,  but  is  facetious,  anecdotal,  easy,  eloquent,  and  emi- 
nently readable.  ^  As  a  rule,  when  a  lady  writes  a  book,  she  does  not  write  it 
over  well ;  but  Miss  Gardener  takes  her  place  among  the  more  brilliant  excep- 
tions to  the  rule.  If  she  has  not  been  born  with  a  pen  in  her  hand,  she  has  been 
born  with  fingers  with  a  special  aptitude  for  handling  one.  Her  portrait 
embellishes  the  frontispiece  of  her  volume,  and  it  is  not  the  portrait  of  a  blue- 
stocking or  a  scrag,  but  of  an  exceedingly  sweet-featured,  refined,  and  charming 
young  \ioman.— London  Secular  Review. 

It  is  the  result  of  many  a  laborious  hour.  It  is  compact  of  learning.  It  is 
unanswerable  in  its  fervid  reasoning.  Nevertheless  it  is  a  light,  bright,  and 
airy  book.  There  is  not  a  heavy  line  in  it.  It  has  the  interest  of  a  novel.  .  .  . 
The  reader  is  convinced,  and  at  the  same  time  infinitely  amused.  Only  the 
theologian  preserves  a  solemn  face.  His  aspect  is  funereal,  for  these  flowers  of 
wit  decorate  his  coffin.  He  is  buried  with  a  joke,  as  he  ought  to  be,  for  his 
death  is  the  regeneration  of  the  wor id.— Samuel  P.  PuCiain,  Truth  Seeker. 

[An  Excellent  Review  of  an  Excellent  Woilk.— Ed.  Investigator.]  A 
more  readable,  brave,  sparkling,  and  at  the  same  time  more  true,  original, 
and  logical  little  volume  than  this,  was  never  written.  It  is  the  production  of 
wide  reading,  deep  thinking,  keen  observation,  and  native  genius.  .  .  . 
These  lectures  are  not  merely  destructive,  but  constructive.  .  .  .  Those  who 
are  constantly  charging  that  Liberals  have  nothing  to  off'er  iu  place  of  the 
"  revelation  "  that  nobody  understands  should  be  forever  silenced  by  reading 
(page  53}  Miss  Gardener's  twelve  articles  of  positive  belief,  which  embrace  every- 
triing  there  is  any  excuse  for  believing.  They  embody  more  of  truth  and 
grandeur  than  all  the  creeds  of  all  the  religions.  .  .  .  The  fact  is  that  every 
page  teems  with  just  such  strong,  healthy  sentiments,  and  vigorous  reasoning  ; 
the  whole  being  enlivened  with  snatches  of  sparkling  wit  and  humor.— ^r.  JIf. 
Chandler,  Boston  Investigator. 

No  more  readable  book  has  been  issued  in  the  interest  of  Ereethought  for  a 
long  time.  .  .  .  The  first  book  of  the  kind  written  by  a  woman  that  has  ever 
been  issued  by  a  popular  publishing  house.  And  we  are  not  going  to  attempt  to 
tell  our  readers  what  there  is  in  this  book.  They  must  read  it  for  themselves 
and  find  out,  but  we  will  ^ive  them  our  word  that  if  they  once  commence  read- 
ing it  they  will  never  lay  it  down,  even  if  attacked  by  severe  toothache,  until 
they  have  read  it  through.  The  only  objection  that  we  have  heard  brought 
against  the  book  is  that  it  reads  very  mucli  like  Colonel  Ingersoll's  productions. 
We  think  that  will  not  injure  its  reputation  among  Freethinkers.  IBiit  the  fact 
is,  we  find  in  this  book  many  quaint  criticisms  of  the  Bible  that  Ingersoll  with 
all  his  genius  has  never  been  able  to  equal— and  that  sve  know  is  saying  a  great 
deal.  But  the  reason  is,  Ingersoll  could  not  look  at  some  of  the  teachings  of 
Paul  through  the  brain  of  a  womsiU.—Freethin/cers^  Magazine. 


PRESS  NOTICES 

OP 


HELEN  H.  GARDENER 


AND  HER  LECTURES. 


Ingersoll  done  in  soprano. — N.  Y.  Sun. 
Christianity  crushed. — N.  Y.  World, 
The  prefcty"infi(lel. — Chicago  Times. 

A  gifted  and  liberal-minded  woman. — Boston  Investigator. 
Is  vivacious. — N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Miss  Gardener's  liumor  is  dainty  and  unanswerable  — N.  Y.  World. 

The  Bible  treated  in  somewhat  tlie  same  lively  spirit  peculiar  to  Col. 
Ing:ersoll. — N.  Y.  Herald. 

Remarkably  able  and  eloquent.— Freethinker  Magazine. 

Bright,  interesting,  sincere,  and  earnest  throughout. — Buffalo  Express. 

Miss  G-ardener  is  epigrammatic,  witty,  eloquent,  and  pathetic  by  turns,  and 
deserves  the  success  she  has  gained. — N.  Y.  Truthseeker. 

A  Immorous  and  witty  exposition  of  woman's  status  in  the  Bible,  fi-om  an 
intelligent  and  cultivated  woman's  st.-indpoint. — Sunday  News,  Bradford,  Pa. 

An  unsparing  denunciator  of  Bible  teachings  in  their  effect  on  women. 
.  .  .  A  style  which  rivets  the  attention  and  rivals  Col.  Ingersoll  in  the 
humorous  treatment  of  sacred  subjects. — Albany  Morning  Express. 

Her  subject,  "Men,  Women,  and  Gods,"  was  replete  with  genuine  humor 
and  sound  logic,  and  called  forth  continued  applause.  She  has  a  pleasing 
presence,  and  is  gifted  with  all  the  requisites  for  public  speaking. — Newark 
Morning  Register. 

Tliere  will  be  a  vast  demand  for  this  book.  Its  bright  and  original  thought; 
its  limpid  stream  of  logic  ;  its  keen  wit  and  radiant  humor,  and  its  thorough 
honesty  of  purpose  make  it  one  of  the  most  valuable  and  interesting  contri- 
butions to  Liberal  literature. — Samuel  P.  Putnam  in  The  Truthseeker. 

The  writer  of  this  little  volume  has  read  the  Bible  with  open  eyes.  The 
mist  of  sentimentality  has  not  clouded  her  vision.  She  has  had  tlie  courage 
to  tell  tlie  result  of  her  investigations.  Slie  has  been  quick  to  discover  con- 
ti  adict  ions.  She  appreciates  the  humorous  side  of  the  stupidly  solemn.  Her 
heart  protests  against  the  cruel,  and  her  brain  rejects  the  childish,  the 
unnatural,  and  absurd.  There  is  no  misunderstanding  between  her  head  and 
heai-t.  She  says  what  she  thinks,  and  feels  what  she  says.  No  Imman  being 
can  answer  her  arguments.  There  is  no  answer.  All  the  priests  in  the  world 
cannot  explain  away  her  objections.  There  is  no  explanation.  They  should 
remain  dumb  unless  they  can  show  that  the  impossible  is  the  probable — that 
slavery  is  better  than  freedom — that  polygamy  is  the  friend  of  woman — that 
tlie  innocent  can  justly  suffer  for  the  guilty,  and  that  to  persecute  for  opin- 
ion's sake  is  an  act  of  love  and  worship. — Col.  R.  G.  Ingersoll. 

Miss  Gardener  is  thoroughly  good-natured  in  her  manner  of  dealing  with 
her  subject,  and  whatever  view  her  iiearers  may  take  of  her  opinions,  they 
are  certain  to  laugh  at  her  quaint  and  humorous  expressions.  She  certainly 
seems  a  "  brainy  "  woman. — Buffalo  Express. 


Notices  of  II,  II,  Gardener  and  Her  Lectures. 


Her  mission  is  particularly  important  to  women.  .  .  .  She  most  effect- 
ively attacks  the  Bil)le  bistories  and  myths,  on  one  side,  and  points  out,  at 
the  same  time,  the  progress  and  enlighteimient  of  Science,  Humanity,  and 
Justice  of  our  modern  era,  in  contrast. — Thaddeus  B,  Wakeman. 

Tiiat  she  is  a  lady  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  word,  and  possesses  the  power 
and  will  necessary  to  do  well  whatever  she  undertakes  to  do,  admits  of  no 
^(mht.^ Cleveland  Sunday  Sun. 

More  real,  condensed,  common-sense  religion  than  a  hearer  would  find  in 
the  sermons  preached  of  a  Sabbath  morning  in  all  the  pulpits  between  the 
St.  John's  River  and  the  Pacific  Ocean  — Summit  Co.  Journal,  Cal. 

Delivered  in  her  peculiar  style  of  intermingling  stinging  sarcasm  with 
pitliy  humor.  .  .  .  That  her  lecture  was  well  i-eceived  was  evident  from 
the  frequent  interruptions  of  applause. — Buffalo  Courier. 

If  all  "  heathen  "  ladies  prove  to  be  as  charming  as  she,  they  will  have 
little  difficulty  in  converting  the  male  portion,  at  least,  of  humanity  to  their 
peculiar  belief. — Chicago  News. 

Miss  Gardener  is  about  twenty-three  years  of  age,  petite,  very  pretty, 
and  very  bright.  Her  lecture  is  a  sort  of  amalgam  of  Ingersoll's  wit  and 
Mrs.  Annie  Besant's  logic.  .  .  .  It  is  not  to  be  inferred  from  this,  how- 
ever, that  the  matter  is  not  original — and  this  beautiful  heathen,  who  does 
'*  Ingersoll  in  soprano,"  is  likely  to  create  a  sensation. — Chicago  'Tribune. 

The  discourse  teemed  with  epigrammatic  utterances  which  commanded 
attention  ;  many  of  her  smart  sayings  and  sarcastic  utterances  called  to 
mind  Ingersoll,  and  frequently  elicited  applause.  Even  those  who  went  away 
unconverted  were  obliged  to  confess  that  they  had  witnessed  a  very  brilliant 
display  of  fireworks,  none  the  less  effective  by  reason  of  the  well-modulated 
tone  and  wiiming  smile  of  the  speaker. — Buffalo  Couiner. 

A  large  audience  gathered  last  evening  to  receive  their  introduction  to 
Ingersjll's  protege,  Miss  Helen  H.  Gardener.  .  .  .  Most  of  those  present 
were  more  than  pleased  with  the  gentle  yet  forcible  manner  and  delightful 
personnel  of  tlie  speaker  herself.  Miss  Gardener  is  somewhat  petite  in  form, 
with  soft,  dark  e3'es,  delicate  features,  calm  and  peaceful  in  expression, 
full  red  lips,  a  chin  which  betokens  considerable  firmness  and  determijiation, 
and  dark  hair  which  falls  in  graceful  crimps  over  a  broad,  full  forehead. 
She  was  attired  in  a  black  velvet  dress,  en  train,  with  soft  white  lace  at  the 
wrists  and  throat.  A  gold  watch  hung  down  from  her  waist,  as  if  by 
accident,  when  she  came  on  the  stage,  but  this  was  afterward  concealed. 
Diamond  rings  flashed  from  her  delicate  white  hands,  and  the  gleam  of  a 
single  solitaire  could  now  and  then  be  caught  from  her  lace  collar.  Tiie 
chief  charm  of  Miss  Gardener,  however,  lies  in  her  easy,  self-possessed, 
unostentatious  manner,  her  fascinating  smile,  devoid  of  cynicism,  and  the 
sweet,  clear  voice  which  penetrates  to  every  part  of  the  hall,  yet  never 
appears  strained  or  unduly  harsh.  Miss  Gardener  is  possessed  of  a  naive, 
piquant  individuality  which  stamps  her  utterances  as  original  personal 
tliought.  She  uses  a  manuscript,  but  only  for  occasional  reference,  and  faces 
her  audience  with  the  air  of  a  brave  but  modest  woman,  vi  ho  has  something 
of  importance  to  say. — Buffalo  Times. 

A  bright  little  woman,  sharp,  gentle,  wonmnly,  with  a  mind  snapping 
with  original  thought.  Sue  may  be  classed  as  an  Agnostic.  Wliat  is 
beyond,  she  iiolds,  man  does  not  and  cannot  know.  She  believes  that  the 
next  world  will  take  care  of  itself  ;  she  wants  to  aid  men  and  women  to 
make  the  present  sweeter,  purer,  and  stronger.  To  teach  a  new  faith  she 
feels  she  must  undermine  the  old.  .  .  .  Papers  have  head-lined  this 
prepossessing  apostle  of  infidelity  as  *'  Heathen  Helen."  Well,  Hypatia, 
in  the  old  Alexandrian  days,  before  she  was  sacrificed  to  fanaticism  and 
intolerance,  was  probably  a  heathen  seven-fold,  but  men  went  to  hear  her  by 
thousands  and  marveled  at  her  words.  .  .  .  Miss  Gardener  welcomes 
the  clergy  ;  perhaps  she  rather  enjoys  putting  heretical  fleas  in  their 
ears.  She  courts  antagonism  in  argument  whenever  orthodoxy  is  ready  to 
vouchsafe  it. — Chicago  Inter- Ocean, 


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